The Aftertaste of Victory
by Meeper
Summary: Originally 'Innocence' Chapter 13 up! Audrena Void and Kyle Obscura are incredibly close to actually tying the knot, but it doesn't really look like they're going to live long enough to actually do that, at least Malone doesn't want them to.
1. Bad News for the Blitz Team

The judge capsule was already in place, and the Blitz team was waiting, simply waiting for their opponent to arrive. Bit twitched in his seat, glancing at his radar screen nervously. According to the rumors, the Void team had a habit of showing up late, but it was an almost guaranteed chance that they would win when they did. Reaching forward, the liger pilot tapped a few keys, widening the search area of the radar screen.   
  
"How much longer!?" He muttered, tapping the controls with impatient fingers. Even Liger 0 Yager was getting antsy, shifting from one foot to the other in its agitation. The Ultimate X's armor glimmered in the harsh desert sun, having been freshly polished from the last battle, but that didn't assist moods.  
  
Eventually, their radar screens showed a large unknown blip coming their way, but oddly enough, only one. It caused both of the group members to take a second look.  
  
"What is this? A loner?" Leena inquired dryly, punching up the com-link to the unknown zoid. In place of the customary picture, only electric green text appeared on the screen, on a darker green background, like the computers of Old Earth.   
  
'No politics before the election. Now just be patient.'  
  
"What kind of pilot are we dealing with? He talks in riddles!" Leena's Gunsniper twitched from it's pilot being so fidgety. Bit shook his head. Only Leena and Bit had been sent out, the logic being that two fully armed zoids could easily take one down. Besides, what's the point of wasting fuel in all 4 machines when two could do the same job?  
  
A good five minutes later, the rumbling of massive footsteps could be heard, and the Void team appeared on the battlefield…well, what could be a team if there was more then one. Leena burst out laughing at the sight of their newest opponent, kept in her seat only by her harness. This wouldn't be a fight! It would be a giggling session! A massacre!  
  
"ONE?! THAT'S IT?! ONE ZOID FOR A TEAM?!! PAH! AND THIS IS WHAT EVERYONE WAS AFRAID OF?!"  
  
The liger standing before them seemed to be compiled of every sort of zoid created before it. The only thing recognizably liger-like was the head, and even that seemed stretching the definition. It was shaped like the liger 0 head, but a sort of dirty yellow. The rest though, that seemed salvaged. The leg was from a black Command Wolf, the left back leg taken from a Rev Raptor, the tail from an Ultrasaurus, the front two legs and the back right from a Lightning Saix, so on and so forth. It seemed well armed, the leg and joint armor black with down-curving steel blades. A pair of fangs, even bigger then that of a Saber fang and a poisonous green, stuck out from it's upper jaw, the blue shaded eyes glittering from something other then the sunlight.   
  
However odd it seemed, Bit admired the pilot, whoever it was, for building the thing from scratch, like he had wanted to do in the beginning.  
  
"So you finally got here?" Leena sneered, wanting to spit at the sight of this seemingly ungainly zoid, her tale tell arrogance increased by her impatience. More text appeared on her screen, still maintaining that strange green color that left afterimages on the back of her eyes.  
  
'Remember this, my soon-to-be-trashed opponent. Don't judge a book by its cover.'  
  
The two zoids stared nonchalantly at each other while the judge said all of its customary announcements, unknowing (well, mostly) of the argument overhead. It raised its arms, as was it's programming, glanced at them both.  
  
"I want a good clean match!" The machine paused, glaring at the misshapen zoid. It recoiled and smiled innocuously, putting on an expression of mock innocence and gentle questioning. "And that goes for you too, Audreniliger." He muttered sternly.   
  
"Ready…FIGHT!"  
  
Leena grinned evilly as she watched the misshapen liger lurch forward a step, as though in challenge and nothing more. This is going to be easy. A rummage-heap zoid versus two perfectly built machines of sleek and top-of-the-line design.   
  
Nothing was going to go wrong here.  
  
"Those rumors that the Fugal team told us were probably just to psyche us out!" Her fingers forced the thrusters forward, her smirk still plastered onto her face. Her confidence was rising, as was her ego. That odd Liger simply stood there, waiting, its tail swishing back and forth warily as both of her opponents split the air with their speed.  
  
Both Leena and Bit kept pushing their zoids faster, the joints of the two machines straining to obey their pilot's wills without snapping. The odd liger simply waited, watching the two with intelligent blue eyes, baring one long fang in a wicked taunt. Grinning, Leena com-linked to Bit, her own smile starting to resemble that of the opposing zoid's.   
  
"Let me handle this. It seems that our friend's zoid has frozen up on them!"   
  
"Fine, but leave me some of the scrap too! I want at least SOMETHING to blow up!"  
  
Bit rolled his eyes, dropping back just the same. Fine. Let her have all the glory. Though, it wasn't much glory in taking out a lesser opponent.   
  
Leena smirked, then looked back to where that odd looking liger was. She had no qualms about targeting and defeating a inferior enemy, and she found nothing wrong with the idea of tearing this one to pieces either! Glancing around, she slowed her Gunsniper to a crawl, looking around in confusion and annoyance.  
  
That thrown together, randomly pieced, badly built zoid was gone!   
  
Bit's heart dropped, seeing a yellow and black blur just behind Leena's Gunsniper, then another, and another.   
  
Perhaps he could-  
  
Yager switched on his turbo boosters on his own, bellowing and blasting towards the now slightly solid yellow form. Cursing his sudden lapse in concentration and Yager's eagerness, he struggled to regain control, and failed miserably. Leena, seeing the red 'Proximity Alert!' letters appear on her screen, turned to see a glimpse of something yellow and the blue blur that was Liger 0 zipping towards her.  
  
"BIT! STOP!!!!" She screamed, throwing up her hands out of instinct a split second before Yager skidded and crashed right into Leena's unprepared Gunsniper, sending them both bouncing across the desert flats. The odd liger stopped, watching the tangled mass of zoid parts skid to a stop on the arid battlefield to become a sparking heap. And, to add to this strange scene, the liger itself gave a small laugh, blue eyes glinting evilly. The both of them, pilot and machine, enjoyed a good core-fest.  
  
"Well done Audreniliger." A feminine voice inside the misshapen liger chuckled coldly, satisfied at her work. "Now let's finish them off. They're too cocky for their own good."   
  
The yellow head gave a nod, picking it's paw up to start walking, but it's pilot held it fast.   
  
"Not yet. We are not cheaters, therefore, we do not attack then the enemy is down." Giving a discontented grumble, sitting down while it's internal gears began to whir. A side pocket seemed to explode, showering the ground with a hail of French fries, a good mound about ten feet high. That same side pocket closed up again with a small 'Snick!', the left paw reaching downward and delicately picking up a fry (each easily as large as a human arm). The pilot rolled her eyes, leaning back while her liger continued to eat.   
  
"Those oils are going to make you break out again, you know."  
  
The liger itself gave an exasperated sigh, grabbing one of the larger fries and throwing it at the cockpit window. Potato splattered with a wet thump all over the glass, the woman inside rolling her eyes again.   
  
"Fine, be that way."  
  
Leena and Bit untangled themselves, the Gunsniper missing a few missile silos and the Yager's side sparking, one of it's boosters completely torn off and lying somewhere in the dirt.   
  
"Ow." Leena muttered, pulling her zoid up with some effort, the gun sniper being quite a bit more sluggish then when this battle started. She swung around towards Bit, voice sickly sweet and her smile promising murder.   
  
This could cause trouble.   
  
"Bit?"  
  
"Yes Leena?" Bit gulped, knowing what was coming and braced for the impact.  
  
"WHY DID YOU CRASH INTO ME?!?!?"  
  
Bit started to say something in his defense, but was cut off again by Leena and her wildly short attention span.   
  
"Never mind, I'll deal with you later! I need revenge for my poor Weasel Assault!" She pulled herself around to face the Audreniliger, who was still grinning at them, a couple of fries sticking out of it's mouth in a strangely comical fry-filled smile.  
  
"Can zoids actually eat like that!?"   
  
Tauros blinked, still rather pleased with the enemy's performance. He had never seen a zoid move that fast, not even the Yager when at full speed, and coming from a zoid such as this. And another surprise, the machine was smiling. And eating no less! He snapped back into reality, and shook his head, trying to keep a straight face. Perhaps he could get some tips from the designer and builders of this zoid…  
  
"No, zoids don't normally snack while their enemy is down…perhaps it's the newest craze!" He tried not to laugh, knowing how stupid he sounded. No matter. They might make a toy of this!  
  
Leena glared at this odd liger, fuming over her latest downfall. Bit glanced up at the intercom, giving his cockiest smile.   
  
"I get it. Liger versus Liger, it won't stand a chance!" He paused, however, glancing down at the controls. "You ready to go, boy?"   
  
Yager seemed a little more cautious this time, but growled anyway, dashing at the highest speed he could manage without the lost speed booster.   
  
The opposing liger watched him approach, spitting out the fries in it's mouth before turning to face the new threat.   
  
"…so he wants a one-on-one fight?" Again, the pilot chuckled, the sound one to raise the hairs on the back of the neck. "Dimwit. It's his fault if he wants to salvage his own zoid."   
  
'He might not be much of a thinker upstairs Audrena.' The woman snorted, reading the text with a sarcastic smile.   
  
"Oh wow, what an incredible statement." She sat back, watching the Yager hurtle towards her with an expression close to boredom. "I think the both of them have a loose gear somewhere."  
  
'…Well, I think Yager's kinda cute.'  
  
To be blunt, that gave Audrena a shock. She sweat dropped in three different places, glaring at the console.   
  
"I knew I shouldn't have tweaked with your emotional servers." She tapped the com-window, glaring playfully at it.   
  
"Just so long as you don't start hitting on the Saber Fangs again. That almost got us blown to pieces."  
  
"I'll leave it in your paws buddy." Bit murmured to his zoid, attempting to grin his way out of his anxiety. Internally, he was beginning to get a little nervous. This liger moved faster then he did at full-jetted speed, without the assistance of turbo boosters or any of that speed-assisting equipment. Perhaps it wasn't visible. That led to further questions.   
  
What else had they hidden in there?   
  
However, he trusted his liger. Yager could do it; he could beat this self-assembled liger down, like he did against all those other teams that they had taken on…  
  
Yager's claws began to shine, taking a running leap at the waiting Audreniliger, looking absolutely murderous. She watched him patiently Waiting until the last possible second, the misshapen zoid darted to the side, watching the Yager hit the ground with a bone-clattering clang, then leaping onto the downed Yager's back, tearing into the machinery and armor with fangs aglow and claws flashing in the sunlight.   
  
Roaring in pain, Yager rolled, forcing Audreniliger to jump off. The now badly slashed and bitten liger stopped rolling in a very bad position, his undersides exposed and throat open to attack. Bit realized his mistake of letting Liger 0 take charge of the battling, but it was too late. The oddly built liger, so ungainly in the beginning of the fight, had turned into what the rumors had told of this pair. A practically living machine, capable of a strength and speed unnatural for a zoid, with a thirst for core fluid and a taste for the battlefield, accompanied by a seemingly faceless pilot with a surreal skill and a merciless, unforgiving style.  
  
"Ah shit…"  
  
Audreniliger, growling viciously and fangs glowing a bright green, rushed in and crunched into the Yager's unprotected neck. The over-long canines were sent deep into its opponent's neck, going through armor, wires, and gears like a hot knife through butter. The pilot, her blackish-brown eyes narrowed and cold, elbow length golden-brown hair askew, gritted her teeth, said two words, her voice easily as cold as her eyes.   
  
"Gamma fang." The glow suddenly wavered, then brightened visibly. EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) was injected directly into Yager's neck, sending the victimized liger into a zoid's version of a seizure. The controls inside the cockpit grew hot in Bit's hands, the whole surroundings sparking with mega volts of electricity zapping in every which direction. Bit couldn't believe it. He didn't even really react when the blue message Command System Freeze flashed on the screen, he was still stunned at how quickly the attack had come and gone. He was still motionless and unblinking when the Audreniliger leaped back, throwing on a shield and surveying the damage. Still smirking, it backed away, leaving the now frozen and sparking zoid, setting it's sights on the mangled Gunsniper, the evil glint replaced by a hungry flash.   
  
Apparently, the fries weren't very filling.  
  
"Oh components, MERCY!" The opposing pilot had put the long-range shrapnel cannons into play. She aimed carefully, again at the zoids neck. Leena panicked, firing everything she had at the misshapen liger with a shout of desperation and fury. Tapping a few keys, the Audreniliger shields were thrown up, the attacks dissipating harmlessly on the defensive energy shield. The barrage ended quickly, the Gunsniper having run out of ammo. Again, text appeared on the screen, along with a small symbol of skull and crossbones underneath the small message.  
  
'Not so cocky now, are we? I warned you not to judge me on appearance alone, and now you'll learn the hard way. Have a nice day, bitch.'  
  
Leena shuddered. "They're crazy! Completely nuts!" She turned her Gunsniper right around, pushing it to its already strained limits as it dashed back towards the hovercraft. Bit had left the Yager's cockpit to watch the rest of the battle, still shocked. He had to meet this pilot, whomever it was. It was a priority.   
  
Bringing the shields down, the pilot inside Audreniliger smirked, again saying only two words. She put her feet up leisurely onto the command board, trying not to smile.  
  
"Your turn!"   
  
Her zoid giggled rather manically, firing the shrapnel cannons with the sound of a sonic boom. Pieces of shredded metal, diamond sharp discus's, and old rusted armor pieces were flung out of the cannon holes, flying at a bullet's speed toward the retreating Gunsniper. Leena didn't get very far in her retreat, as the head was severed from the Gunsniper's body with the sound of ripping and tearing metal. She screamed, being thrown around the cockpit when the head skidded to a stop on the desert ground. Bit's eyes widened at this brutal tactic, Leena throwing open the door of her cockpit in a fuming rage.   
  
"ALRIGHT YOU COWARD! SHOW YOURSELF! YOUR GONNA GET IT FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY GUNSNIPER!" Audreniliger, who was starting to plod away, stopped dead in its tracts, the pilot inside having heard that very clearly, one of her eyes twitching.   
  
Bit stared at his teammate in disbelief over what she was doing, shaking his head at her slight stupidity. This person was obviously not comfortably sane here…. "Careful Leena."  
  
After a moment, the liger bent down, the cockpit door opening and a figure leaping out, landing lightly on the cracked and now pitted field. Leena jogged over to the stock still human, about to shout something, but the pilot's turned head forced the coming curse word to freeze and suffocate in Leena's mouth. Bit tried not to giggle. Finally! Someone with a bigger temper then Leena! He paused, squinting at the figure, a delighted and very sneaky grin coming to his face after his moment of study.   
  
Not only a bigger temper, but a better ass too!   
  
The female pilot glared at Leena with a hatred that ran too deep to be caused by one person, her seemingly endless black eyes cold yet molten with a deep-rooted loathing for all of mankind. Especially Leena.   
  
The Gunsniper pilot blinked, resisting the urge to step back. That voice was so incredibly cold…  
  
"A coward?" The sentence was curt and short, but it was the tone of warning behind it that raised hairs on everyone's neck. Bit grabbed a left over French fry, holding it like one would a French baguette, munching on it quietly. He didn't want to be a part of what he knew was coming.   
  
"At least I'm not the one who left a comrad behind on the battlefield." The waist length and free flowing honey colored hair only accented the mood, contrasting harshly with the black clothing. Leena tried to come up with a witty comeback, but her brain seemed to have fallen into a bottomless pit, not quite working…  
  
The misshapen zoid turned its head on it's own, muttering to itself and nudging the black clothed pilot, almost bowling her over.  
  
"Audrena….let's just go."   
  
Rather ticked that she had missed out on such an opportunity to chew someone a new anus, Audrena hauled herself into the open cockpit, glaring one last time at the both of them and sticking her tongue out at Leena as they bounded off.   
  
After a few miles, the both of them stopped, freezing in their place and smacking their foreheads.   
  
"SHIT! THE PRIZE MONEY!"  
  
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Muahahaha! Next chapter is coming up! And review your brains out for this one! More characters are coming, including a very odd twist. More comedy! More action! More things that will make you say 'Dude!' ….ok, maybe not the last one, but who cares! See you then, with 'Audrena Meets her Match'. 


	2. Audrena meets her match

Alrighty then! Chapter 2 of The Aftertaste of Victory, and throwing in two new characters this time, and only one human! Read on, and review!  
  
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"And it seems that the fabled Void team has ascended another couple of ranks yet again today!" Kyle Obscura glanced up from his cup of coffee at the large television screen erected in the middle of the small café. As the ZBC reporter continued with her report, the 25-year-old got continually paler. He gulped, looking back at his now lukewarm mug, hazel eyes swirling with nervousness. He blinked, seeing the spoon had stopped stirring. Glancing around to see if anyone was looking and seeing that no one was, he looks back at his spoon. His hazel eyes glimmer an electric blue for a moment before the spoon began to spin around again, the rim glowing slightly. He turned his attention back to the newscast, and this time, they had footage from the battle against the Blitz team. His eyes widened, and he ran a hand through his dark chocolate brown hair. From what he could see, or rather was he couldn't see, he was going to get slaughtered next afternoon. As the reporter concluded her news, Kyle stood, leaving his coffee and the money to pay the bill on the table. Heading outside, he stared at his feet as he headed toward his zoid, parked outside. Coming to the feet of his self-built machine, he lifted his head and grinned up at it, the sight of it never failing to cheer him up.  
  
It looked back down at him, and grinned at it's pilot. "You ready to go?"  
  
Kyle again looked down at the ground and shook his head, chuckling. "How many times have I told you not to speak in public, Fury? It scares the normal pilots!"  
  
Fury, well, was designed to look like a Berserk Fury. White armor, twin blades on his shoulders, the whole deal, the only difference was the eye color, which was silver, like his pilots. He was a Ultrasaurus at heart though, he just looked so much like the organoid that his pilot's cousin owned that people would stop Kyle in the streets and ask if he had stolen it! But he was different, for he didn't have a black box, just the most advanced A.I. system that had been built at the time. And Fury enjoyed the fact that he was the only zoid that he knew of that could speak English and not have to roar to communicate.  
  
Fury nodded, shifting from one foot to the other and shutting his gigantic mouth while bending down and opening the cockpit door. Still chuckling, Kyle climbed in, seating himself inside with a small smile. For some odd reason, he felt confident about his next battle, even though he was about to lose miserably. "Fury? You mind getting us home? That coffee wasn't strong enough for me." The zoid let out a small muffled laugh and plodded away.  
  
  
  
The next afternoon.  
  
  
  
Again, the judge capsule was there, but this time, the Audreniliger was on time, so Fury could look on his foe for the first time. Within Fury's cockpit, Kyle gulped. He had a hard time getting to sleep last night, despite his confidence. This zoid had haunted his thoughts, and now he had to fight it?  
  
"A little nervous Kyle?" Fury muttered, feeling himself twitch because of his pilot's shaking hands.  
  
Inside Audreniliger's cockpit, Audrena was simply sitting there, though inside, she was quaking. She was about to fight a Berserk Fury, against an Obscura. The Blitz team had been easy; this was going to be tougher to fight. "Just relax." Audreniliger soothed, purring ever so slightly. "You'll be fine. Trust in your abilities and mine, we are an easy match for anything an Obscura could throw at us."  
  
"I hope so. I've seen what a-" She was cut off by the judge capsule, who had already announced the fight, and had already begun it. Audrena let out a yelp and steeled herself up.  
  
"Alright Liger, charge the CPC. Let's show him what a Charge Particle Cannon can really do when applied correctly!" The yellow zoid growled, the cannon in her mouth gathering energy, suddenly darting at Fury with the murmured words: "You had better be praying Obscura."  
  
Inside Fury, Kyle was pleading with his zoid to move at the very least. His hands were white on the controls, which had frozen on him.  
  
"Just trust me." The zoid whispered, before sticking a foot out into seemingly thin air. Audreniliger appeared out of this air, roaring in anger in being taken down, but being tripped at that! Kyle blinked, amazed. He couldn't believe it; Fury had actually seen that! The zoid chuckled; his blades spinning to administer the final blow, but as he dove for the killing move.  
  
The Audreniliger struck, blasting Fury's midsection with the Charged Particle Cannon. Fury roared, freezing completely and toppling over. The glass on his cockpit shattered, throwing Kyle out onto the desert. The broken glass drew red lines along his side as he was ejected out, slamming headfirst into the rock solid ground. His vision swam before him, but he could make out a set of liger feet stopping in front of him.  
  
"Audrena, are you sure you want to do this?" The zoid inquired, nervous and feeling a little sick. Audrena climbed out of her own cockpit, landing lightly again on the desert ground. Looking Fury over, she clicked her tongue sympathetically.  
  
"Poor poor zoid, we got you pretty good." Fury, amazed that another human was speaking to him, threw back: "Yeah, trust me, I know."  
  
Audrena grinned warmly for the first time in years. "Glad to know that my zoid isn't the only one that can talk!" Now it was Fury's turn to seem shocked, while Kyle lay on the scorching desert ground, letting out a moan ever once in a while. Audrena looked up and over at Kyle, having noticed him for the first time. Strolling over, she knelt, uncurling him from his fetal position. Kyle let out another groan, looking up to see who his savior was. Audrena, having looked over his wounds and considering them superficial, looked his face over for any other cuts. The two locked eyes, the hazel staring into the black/brown and visa versa. That moment seemed to stretch on for a while before Audrena tore her eyes away and whistled to Audreniliger.  
  
Both zoids had been watching that brief encounter, and the same phrase came out of both of their mouths:  
  
"Uh oh...."  
  
Fwee! R+R please! Chapter 3 coming up! 


	3. I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore

I know it's been a long wait, but here it is! Chapter 3 of The Aftertaste of Victory! And here it starts to become a crossover of so many different anime shows that it's difficult to put them all here, but mostly this is starting to become a DBZ/Zoids crossover, just to warn you. You'll understand when I introduce the infamous Mara, and that dastardly Malone. But for right now, I'm just going to play around with Kyle and completely scare him with the oddities of the Void Base, not to mention introducing a character that will add a nice touch to the coming events. Anyway, r & r!  
  
  
  
  
  
@_@'  
  
  
  
  
  
Kyle stirred, opening one bleary hazel eye. The other one flew open in an instant and they both widened, gazing around and trying to adjust to the darkness. He froze, feeling around with a hand, as he couldn't see anything. His fingers told of something soft underneath him, so he wasn't in Fury's cockpit...  
  
He sat up, his eyes finally having adjusted to the darkness, and saw something slinking around in the darkness. He tried to stand, but.  
  
"OW!" He screeched, clutching his now aching skull, having just cracked it over the ceiling. The lights clicked on, blinding the very confused Kyle. Quickly muttering colorful curses under his breath at the low ceiling, he took in his new surroundings.  
  
"I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore." He muttered, raising an eyebrow at the seemingly prison like room.  
  
"So! You're awake! 'Bout time too!" Someone said, the voice sounding like that of a pimply teen computer nerd. Kyle swung around, looking for the person that spoke, his eyes burning from the sudden light. Squinting from the light, he didn't see any human in the gray featureless room he was being held in.  
  
"Uh. . . Where exactly are you?" Kyle inquired, trying to get up off the cot he had been laying on.  
  
Instead, he flipped it over, landing not too gently on the metal floor, knocking the wind out of himself, then received insult to injury when the cot flipped itself over, grew a steel tongue, and blew a raspberry at him. His eyes widening even more, he scrambled away from it, running into the metal wall with a small thud.  
  
"Will someone PLEASE explain why I'm suddenly in wonderland!?"  
  
"Up here moron." The voice from before hand said dryly, and Kyle did so, and got another shock. From the air vent above him, peering at him with a pair of bright orange eyes, was a Shadow Fox. It dropped to the floor in front of the stunned pilot, and to Kyle's surprise, the normally massive zoid had been shrunk down to the size of a German shepherd.  
  
"Please, don't stare." The small zoid said egotistically, posing ever so slightly. "It inflates my ego, and makes the ladies jealous." That got an even stranger stare from Kyle, who was by now thoroughly freaked out by all the very interesting things that had happened to him.  
  
"Might I ask who you are?" He said, standing up and sticking his hands in his pockets, staring down at the zoid.  
  
"The name's Troden." The fox said, sitting down. "I've been assigned to show you around, as you're in no fit state to travel. You're probably very confused, but I'll try my best to make sure you partially know what's going on around here." Kyle nodded, still wide-eyed. And he thought that Fury was the only zoid who could speak English. Troden nudged him towards what looked like a door, only with a long slit right down the middle. "Well come on! Can't stand there all day!" He said, his teen-like voice sort of grating on Kyle's nerves. Sighing, the human followed Troden to the door. The zoid commenced to do something very odd. Troden started pounding on the metal, looking annoyed.  
  
"Don't make me come up there to get you down Jupen!" He screeched, whacking the metal doors until a dent started to form.  
  
"Stop it, you going to pound in the door!" Kyle said, covering his ears at the sound and wincing. He didn't know how hard he had hit his head when he flew out of Fury's cockpit, but surely not hard enough to cause this! He looked up again, and gaped, stepping back slightly. The door metal had melted in the middle, and had formed a face; one that resembled the cranky librarian Kyle used to know when he was ten. He gulped; hoping the door didn't have a whip either.  
  
"Troden Troden Troden, do you enjoy pounding my face in? Good creator, I'll call the flippen elevator for you, just ask next time!" It screeched before becoming a normal door again, opening with a small bell noise to show an elevator. Kyle was still recovering from the sudden shock of seeing a door argue when he stepped into the chain link elevator, hoping that it wouldn't start talking either. Troden trotted inside after him, grinning at the now white-as-a-sheet pilot.  
  
"Not exactly used to having a door talk to you?" He quipped, grinning at the look he received. It was a moment before the doors opened again and Kyle nearly fainted on the spot when he stepped out onto the hanger floor and saw the activity going on there.  
  
"Whoa. . . holy spit. . ." He whispered, looking around at everything.  
  
It looked like a huge town square, complete with huge stores, window shops, a center fountain, a statue of the two founders, and massive cobblestone streets leading away elsewhere. Hundreds of zoids were roaming around the massive hanger, of almost all types, shapes, sizes, and colors, running about various tasks, keeping shop, arguing with each other, haggling with the shop keepers, buying the latest in zoid armor fashion and the best battling cannons available with coins the size of hubcaps, escorting what appeared to be child zoids around the square, and generally doing what humans in a normal small town on Earth would do. Troden grinned at the look of shock on Kyle's face and grinned.  
  
"And this is only one level of the hanger." He said, now starting to lead Kyle through the crowds of huge zoids. "The top level, the only one visible above ground-" The pilot stopped right there.  
  
"All this . . . is below ground?" He said, staring up into what seemed a bright summer sky, almost cloudless except for a few developing rain clouds. The small fox nodded, orange eyes glimmering.  
  
"Yep. There are 40 levels in the void base, and that's not counting the sub levels. As I was saying, the top level looks like a normal hanger, but from someone on the outside looking in, you'd think it was an abandoned car factory because of the holograms we've set up."  
  
Another pause from Kyle, his hazel eyes glimmering with child-like curiosity as a very realistic breeze tossed his hair around, smelling a little like freshly cut grass and cherry blossoms, a grin lighting up his face, now flushed with a held-in delight. He had never seen anything like this before, never even dreamed that a place like this could exist. The various zoids passing by stared at Kyle for a moment before assuming their business again. They had never seen another human in their base before, other then Audrena, and it was fairly new to see one.  
  
"Why would you want to keep this place a secrete? This is paradise! All these zoids, working together and interacting like normal human beings, as though they weren't machines at all!" He murmured, internally giddy as a schoolboy. What a discovery he had made! He'd have to at least write about this place when he got back home. Troden's grin dropped and he looked tragic.  
  
"All of the zoids here are valuable beyond belief. If someone were to discover us, and how many of us are here, the base would be torn down; the zoids would be separated from each other, and the peace that Audrena and Audreniliger have worked so hard to build and keep would be lost." There was a very uneasy pause from both of them.  
  
"Don't worry, I won't tell. Now tell me, what other kind of floors are there?" He asked, trying to get off that very depressing subject. He exceeded with flying colors, as Troden rounded on him with a grin.  
  
"All of the floors and sub-floors have their own particular level. For example, sub-floor 82 is for all aquatic zoids, it being pretty much nothing but a water environment."  
  
"You have specialized levels for each?" He said, still walking alongside the German shepherd sized Shadow Fox. They were starting to come into a massive park, large trees towering overhead and providing shade for the zoids underneath, who were dwarfed by the sheer size of the plants. Thick grass crunched under their feet as they strolled to a small bench, placed in front of a very large and exquisitely carved stone fountain. It was going merrily as a few smaller zoids had a good game of tag on a large field nearby, their childish laughter floating up on the small warm breeze. As Kyle sat down, he stared at the group of miniature machines running around in the field of grass, hazel eyes glimmering with deep thought and more curiosity. His face contorted, trying to think of how they could have gotten so small, and why the a few of the larger zoids were so protective of them. . .  
  
"Troden?" Kyle uttered, his curiosity coming to a peak, not taking his eyes off that one group. "What's the deal with those zoids over there?"  
  
Troden glanced over and grinned. "Duh! They're zoids!" Kyle fell over anime style, getting up to a knee after a moment and putting an elbow on the bench seat, eyeing Troden evily and sweat-dropping. "I knew that." He said dryly, glaring at the now sniggering zoid. "But why are they so small? They not like the larger ones, they're almost childish."  
  
"That's because they are children!" He rolled his eyes, a very difficult thing for a zoid with fixed eyes. "Come on! How thick can you get!" Kyle blinked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Children? Kid. Zoids? But what about the larger zoids that they seem to follow around?" He got another eye-roll from Troden.  
  
"Those bunch are their parents! Good creator, do you have a CPU in that skull or not!?" He blinked, looking over towards Kyle.  
  
"Uh . . . Kyle?" He said, poking the now almost frozen form of Kyle. His attention was somewhere else, eyes fixed on one point. You would think that he was staring at the fountain, but he was staring past it. He grinned wildly, standing so suddenly that he startled Troden.  
  
"Fury?" He whispered, looking at his zoid, now plodding through the rim of the trees. The zoid looked as stunned as Kyle did when he first came here, his midsection completely fixed, even newly armored, and with the remaining pieces polished completely to a mirror-like shine. The liger that had blasted him apart in the first place was accompanying him, and the two were chatting like a pair of childhood friends. Kyle ran towards them, not even watching where he was going and slammed headlong into something that felt remotely human. The both of them fell back onto the grass, and sat up in the same moment. Audrena growled at the person she ran into.  
  
"Watch where you're going!" She snapped, standing up while Kyle simply stared. This was the woman who had helped him after he flew from the cockpit of his zoid. He stood after a moment, when she had already past by him in a whirl of brown monk-like hooded robes, watching Audrena as she walked away. Fury noticed his staring and grinned as he pulled up beside his pilot.  
  
"Fury? What's her name?" Kyle said, still staring in the direction in which she had walked off. Fury chuckled.  
  
"Haven't you heard? It's Audrena."  
  
Kyle smiled, hazel eyes glimmering blue for a moment.  
  
"Audrena . . ." He muttered slowly, as though trying to taste the word itself.  
  
  
  
  
  
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Fwee! Sorry about making you peeps wait so long, but to make it up, this chapter was really long. Stick around for the 4th chapter, 'A Year's Greeting and a Minute's Goodbye'. See you then! 


	4. Warming Up

Well, sorry about the wait, but here it is, chapter 4, and things get a little 'friendlier'. Heeheeheeheehee!  
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A year had past since that very rough meeting in the park, and neither Fury nor his pilot wanted to leave this diamond in the rough. Audrena had let them stay on one condition, that they never tell a living soul about their new home. They had come to stop jumping every time the wall or some other seemingly inanimate object started speaking to them, forming tiny mouths and throwing insults at them with every turn, and instead enjoying their new surroundings. After all, they had an actual home now, even if the only other human in the entire complex paid seemingly little or no attention to them. It was getting better though. Audrena was quickly becoming more social with the both of them, much to Kyle and Fury's delight, well, more of the first's delight, but oh well.  
  
"Kyle?" Fury inquired, plodding up to his pilot, who was half way submerged in a massive computer, tinkering around with the machinery. There was a long pause before Kyle pulled himself out of the old motor, looking greasy and grime-covered. He blinked, watching as the massive Fury started bouncing around in a very giddy manner, unable to contain himself.  
  
"Uhhh...Let me guess, Audreniliger introduced you to frozen sugar coated gasoline." Fury continued his little happy dance, then finally stopped and spat out his message in a high pitched squealing voice that usually meant complete happiness for him and total misery for his pilot.  
  
"The Audreniliger's got a match tomorrow! And we're invited to be part of a 5 zoid team for a bat-tal roy-yal! Isn't that great?!"  
  
Kyle blinked, absorbing it all, then sweatdropped and said dryly,  
  
"Oh boy oh boy, I'm thrilled to pieces." He shook his head, putting away his tools and cleaning the grease off his face with an old rag. Fury watched him march away, looking grim.  
  
"I'm going to tell that Audrena something about recruiting!"  
  
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"Tauros, you no longer own the Blizt team, and the Blitz team no longer exists. You have no say in the matter anymore."  
  
Tauros looked indignant, glaring into the shadows where this bargainer lay hidden. The only revealed was a feminine hand, resting on the shoulder of Vega Obscura. The normally independent teen was half lidded and pale, and his speech sound as though it was not his own. Simply because his voice was not his own, the 16 year old boy being used as a comatose intermediary, a living com-link system. This person went to great lengths to keep himself or herself anonymous, and it worked magnificently.  
  
"I swear," The doctor started, pointing a finger in his rage at his host. Through the shadows, she smirked, but let him continue. "You cowardly leech, you haven't heard the last from me!"  
  
There was a pause, and the hand lifted suddenly from Vega's shoulders, the boy collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. Tauros shut his mouth and gulped, wondering what he had gotten himself into as the female stepped from the shadows, over the crumbled Obscura's body into the dim light from the natural sun. The hood she wore over her face shadowed all but the right side of her cheek, chin, and lips, some rays lighting buts and pieces of the left side, the cloak covering all but the well worn hiking boots and both of her pale and well shaped hands. Dirty blonde hair spilled out from inside the hood, framing the incredibly white face, what was visible at least. The doctor blinked, trying his best to look composed. He was still fuming; but that wicked smirk playing about the visible lips made him shudder internally. It sent the hairs on his neck standing.  
  
"My dear doctor Tauros!" She said with false cheerfulness and sickly sweet comfort, and that sent yet another chill down his spine, approaching him slowly to stand a good 20 feet away. That was good, he didn't want to be anywhere near this woman. The smirk increased to show the teeth on the top of her lip, the sheer coldness and playful malevolence increasing ten fold as the strange woman raised a hand lazily, the fingers and palm starting to spark with energy. Her smirk immediately dropped into a frown, and her hand raised even more, to the point where the palm was facing outward, at the level of Tauros's head.  
  
He started praying, but was interrupted when that threatening hand began to spark with energy, starting to make a humming noise, but growing louder and higher pitched as it grew larger and radiated from the center of her palm.  
  
"I do believe that everyone you know has heard the last from you." She spat coldly, and her smirk returned, only carrying much more spite then before.  
  
"Mara! Please!" Tauros called out, but to no avail. Mara's smirk turned into a violent grin. She loved hearing her victims beg before they died.  
  
"Pathetic." She spat, and released a shot of purple/white energy from her palm, looking bored in the process. Tauros never even got a chance to scream. After the light flash cleared, his headless body crumbled to the ground, lying there before disintegrating into ash, steaming on the stone floor after a moment. After a minute of smiling down at the smoldering pile, Mara threw back her hood to reveal what could be a pretty face, had it not had such contemptuous electric green eyes and that wicked smile.  
  
"Cinder Shot. Instant nuker every time." She said, raising her finger and blowing it lightly, as one would blow the smoke from a freshly shotgun. Turning swiftly, she snapped her fingers and barked. "Come Vega!" The seemingly deeply unconscious boy snapped awake and was on his feet instantly. "We have a little zoid battle to attend tomorrow..." Vega nodded sleepily and followed after her.  
  
He was too far under the mind control technique to notice that Mara's face had changed from wicked and spiteful to bitter and acrimonious. Her green eyes became hard as the two emerged from the room into the main hangar she owned, the former members of the blitz team waiting for them, all in the same trance-like state that Vega was in. But Mara was not thinking about the fight coming up...  
  
'Audrena,' She thought, her face and disposition going sour. 'Most despicable and abhorred sister of mine, you had better lose, to create the event that I will finally be able to finish what mother could not, to eliminate the runt of the half-saiyan litter...'  
  
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Kyle let out one last shuddering breath, trying to pluck up his courage. It wasn't working very well. He would rather poke a sleeping dragon in the eye then ask the exceptionally temperamental Audrena a question. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he peeked out from behind the corner into the main hangar, where his target was working and tinkering with some kind of computer chip. He allowed himself a smile, he couldn't really help himself. Over the course of a year, he had grown quite fond of his 'landlord', especially when she smiled, which was very rare. He'd see her occasionally in the various levels and sub-levels, always off in her own world or thinking up some new design or cursing various teams under her breath, not to mention she'd occasionally run around the place, whooping about some discovery she had made. You never knew with her, she could be bursting with joy one minute and be fuming and snappy the next. At least, that's what the other zoids told him. A loud let off of happy whooping told him that this was as good a time as ever, though he still had doubts. . .  
  
Letting out a sigh, he plucked up his internal fortitude and turned the corner, strolling out into the open doorway and hoping to whatever god there was that he would have his head at the end of this, leaning against it casually.  
  
"I heard that you recruited me for a upcoming battle?" He stated, doing his best to keep a straight face. For some reason he kept wanting to burst out smiling or something. That wouldn't cut the mustard. Audrena stopped jumping around, seeing him standing in the doorway and realizing that he had been watching her jump around like a complete idiot, she stopped immediately, regaining her composure. She turned to face him, crossing her arms and trying to look annoyed.  
  
"Yeah, you have a problem with it?" She spat, trying to appear aloof. It didn't work, Kyle saw right through it, and strolled over just to add to the oddness of the scene.  
  
"No, I was just wondering why." He didn't excellent job of catching Audrena off guard, but she didn't dare show it. The female pilot rolled her eyes and shook her head.  
  
"Simple. Because you're one of the few human beings on this planet that isn't scared to death of me. . .then again, maybe you should be afraid."  
  
"Be afraid Void, be very afraid." Kyle muttered to himself, then blinked, hearing a short laugh. It was quite shocking to hear a chuckle from the normally poker-faced Audrena, much less a laugh. He swung around with his hands in his pockets, but saw the norm, just that wary glare.  
  
"You've got the right idea." She mumbled.  
  
"I heard you celebrating. What did you pioneer? Not to be nosy or anything." That was another shocker to Audrena. So he wasn't a brainless idiot, just a prodding idiot. But that was ok, at least he had interest in computers. Grinning, she made sure he was looking at her before she pulled something to slip him up. To Kyle's shock, Audrena ripped off her own head and put it under her arm. Poor Kyle, he thought he had seen everything in this base too!  
  
"This you mean?" Kyle's silver-gray eyes widened, and he did his best to keep from fainting on the spot. It was only after a moment did he begin to notice the small details. There was no blood, no torn flesh, no spurting blood vessels, and no pain even! Putting on a mischievous smirk, he crossed his arms and eyed her playfully.  
  
"Good one!" He exclaimed, staring at the spot where Audrena's head used to be. "You fooled me there for a minute."  
  
"Darn." She spat; putting her head back on like it was some kind of party hat and throwing down the hologram. "Thought you did look pretty pale there for a minute. The last person I did that looked ready to wet themselves, and you should have heard the scream! I've never seen anyone run that fast!"  
  
"So THAT was the scream I heard!" He blurted out, his voice showing a bit of relief. He was wondering if she had murdered someone, because that scream sounded like bloody murder.  
  
"So what was that anyway?" He asked, looking at the tiny computer chip in the palm of her hand. Blinking, she looked down at it and grinned proudly.  
  
"It's the smallest known Holographic Generator, created by yours truly!" Audrena declared, sweeping a very over-dramatic bow. Kyle blinked, then chuckled lightly. What antics! Why hadn't he seen this humor-filled side around her zoids? In fact, Audrena herself was wondering that same question. Where had this come from?! She shook it off as she rose. It's not like this was something horrible and life changing. So she was being social. Big deal. It took a minute before she realized that there was no hologram emitter in her hand.  
  
Kyle looked up to meet the glare and grinned sheepishly, sweat dropping and handing the chip back to Audrena, hoping not to get killed. The question that he had meant to ask in the first place came to mind, and threw in a bit of the most recent events into the question to make it sound casual.  
  
"My conniving mind must know more about this. Perhaps we could discuss this further." He scratched the back of his neck in his nervousness. After all, he had never done this before. "Over dinner, perhaps?"  
  
For the next several seconds, he expected to get hit by something or have some kind of bodily pain inflicted upon him. Oddly enough, nothing came. Under normal circumstances, Audrena would have beaten him to a bloody pulp then left him to the wolves that lived in the forest behind the base. In this case, she was too shocked to react. Hoping to whatever god was out there that this was nothing but an information outing, she nodded and replied quietly, "You're lucky that the battle isn't until tomorrow. Otherwise I would have refused outright. 5 then?" It took a moment for him to recover from his disbelief to remember that she was talking about the time.  
  
"Err. . .I was thinking about 8 actually." He said, hoping that his face wasn't as red as he felt.  
  
"You're blushing like a school boy." She remarked dryly, but Kyle wasn't paying attention. 'God she has pretty eyes. . .' He thought, watching her walk off into the depths and bowels of the base. He tore his gaze away to look at the ancient grandfather clock that Audrena owned. 3:30, a few more hours of agonized waiting.  
(4 1/2 hours later . . .)  
"Well, I finished telling my life's story, now it's time for yours." Audrena looked quite shifty-eyed for a moment, grinning hesitantly.  
  
"Could you tell it again? I only got the part about your dad running off when you were little."  
  
The two were sitting on a park bench, and it was long past 11. Both the moons of Zi were out, casting milky light into the fountain they were sitting in front of and causing silvery reflections on the pair's faces. Hundreds of starts lit the dark blue-sky overhead, the night incredibly clear and warm.  
  
"You're avoiding the subject, then again, maybe you have a reason to." Kyle smirked internally. Reverse psychology. Audrena rolled her eyes, but hey, why not? Perhaps this'll make him wish he had never asked.  
  
"Alright, don't get your panties in a wad." Kyle fell off the bench anime style at this, and Audrena busted out laughing at him, not even stopping when Kyle burst out with a 'That wasn't very nice!', looking very indignant while Audrena roared in mirth at him, almost falling off the bench herself. Rolling his eyes, nonetheless smiling, he hauled himself back on the bench, ignoring the strange looks he got from the other passerby's. Audrena calmed down pretty quick, especially when she gripped the side of the metal bench and she tore the metal off accidentally. Her laughter quickly turned to a 'YEEOWCH!' Kyle almost jumped out of his skin at this vehement exclamation, but silence eventually reigned again, broken only by the sound of the fountain and the soft but colorful cursing of Audrena, who was picking metal splinters out of her hand.  
  
"Well? Where should I start?" She said patiently, taking Kyle completely by surprise. He hadn't expected anything.  
  
"Tell me about your family. What were they like?" There was a very long silence while Audrena kept picking pewter shards from her hand, staring at it as though hypnotized.  
  
"Oh come on, do I have to?" She whined, sticking her lip out and pouting.  
  
"Yes, you do!" Kyle said firmly, crossing his arms and turning his back to her playfully while looking impishly angry, although it appeared that he was holding back a smile. Audrena poked his shoulder with a forefinger that she wasn't picking at after a minute, cocking her head to the side.  
  
"Err . . . Kyle? Hello?" The silence stretched for a while. Kyle suddenly whirled around, looking much like a mad doctor with his hands wringing themselves and shoulders hunched over like that. "NYEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!"  
  
"YAAAAAAAAH!" Audrena shrieked, jumping backwards to land on her butt in the grass off the bench, wide-eyed and very much alarmed. Kyle bowled over with his hands on his stomach; he was laughing so hard. Tears began running down his face as he leaned over side-ways, lost his balance, and ended up lying on his side on the bench, struggling for breath in his mirth.  
  
"You should have seen the look on your face!"  
  
"You butthead!" Audrena spat, hauling herself up, a massive red blush on her face from embarrassment. Sticking her nose in the air, she marched to the next bench and sat down on it, glaring at Kyle. If looks could kill, he would have been ripped apart in 5 different ways and his body parts spread over the continents. After a moment, she looked at the fountain, her anger simmering away with the movements of the water. Kyle, seeing this as an opportunity, got up and slowly proceeded forward to sit on the opposite end of the bench, hoping not to get hit. Nothing came. Instead, Audrena began picking at the hand she had ripped metal off with, splinters prickling the flesh.  
  
"My father," She began, taking a deep breath, and true to Audrena's expectations, Kyle began to wish he hadn't asked. She continued though in a steady voice, broken occasionally by pauses, all the while staring into the hand she was picking at.  
  
"My dad was the best one of the family. He's probably the only reason why I'm alive." She chuckled mirthlessly. Her fellow pilot leaned forward to rest with his elbows on his knees, watching her with concern.  
  
"Go on."  
  
" . . . You see, my mother was really weird. She was incredibly strong, impossibly fast, and very temperamental. She would hit someone she just met on the street if she disliked them. To this day I don't really know why my father married her . . . but I had an older sister, Mara. She was just as bad, perhaps worse, because she had an excuse to use me as a punching bag." Audrena finally stopped picking at her hand, now staring at the ground with a pained look. "And she was just as strong and merciless as my mom. Those two, they had . . . delusions. Delusions of power and perfection, and I wasn't exactly fitting in the picture." Kyle whistled slowly.  
  
"And I thought my family was dysfunctional." That got a small chuckle out of her, but it didn't have any real mirth in it.  
  
"So they tried to kill me. On three separate occasions, every single time I got myself out of it. My father was never home when they tried to eliminate me. They never tried when he was around. He was quite the imposing fellow, at 7'7" and all."  
  
"Didn't you tell anyone?" Kyle said breathlessly, gawking at his now good friend. What a change over the last few weeks . . . He thought to himself.  
  
"Yeah. They never believed me. Then again, maybe thy were too scared of my 'saiyan' mom."  
  
"A what and a who?"  
  
"Something she always called herself and Mara. Some weird alien race that can blow things up with mere finger pointing and were unconceivably strong. I didn't really believe them, not until they tried to blow my head off the second time they tried to kill me." She shook her head, smiling ruefully. "Something a 12 year old shouldn't be experiencing. Their own mother trying to kill them."  
  
"For 15 years, I took the bashings and attempted murders without saying a word. Eventually, my father came home once after they had cornered me. Good lord, I thought I had bitten it that time. He immediately separated from my mother, taking me with him." Her grin became one of remembered happiness, though bitter. "Those years were the best of my life . . ."  
  
"What about your sister?" Kyle inquired, scooting closer. Audrena didn't notice.  
  
"Mom got her, and they looked absolutely thrilled to have me and dad gone. Though," The smile dropped and was replaced by a scowl that sent chills up Kyle's spine, it was so hateful and venomous. He was quite happy that that glare wasn't intended for him. She looked up from the ground for the first time the whole conversation, and her dark brown eyes were ablaze with hatred and bitterness.  
  
"Mara came back to rain on my parade. A few years before, we got a com-message that my mother's remains had been found in a ditch, but I never knew it could extend to my father." Her hands began to shake, and concern returned to Kyle's silver eyes, and he dared to get closer. She, again, didn't notice.  
  
"I came home one day from the machine shop to find Mara outside, leaning against the door with a huge smirk on her face . . ." Despite herself, she began to remember the events that had taken place, outside her father's home . . .  
  
Everything had begun normally enough that day. She had left her father, Theo Void, to polish his own zoid, a red Shield Liger. He had jokingly complained about his old limbs having to do the imposing job, even if he was only in his early 40's. The both of them knew that he enjoyed any sort of attention he could pay towards his favorite zoid. It was a day of excitement for the whole household, even if there only was two. Audrena had been finally been able to afford her own zoid, having been saving in joint with her father over the years. The teen would be going in today to pick up her purchase, not to mention add in her latest AI invention and speed boosters, and planned to heartily show off to her father as well.  
  
Approaching the house, the 18-year-old Audrena knew that something was wrong. Something wasn't right, even from the mile and a half distance she could feel it. Throwing the waist length braid over her shoulder, she halted her freshly bought Liger and climbed into the cockpit, fearing the worst. Pushing her brand new zoid forward; it was within minutes that she skidded to a halt outside the small home, dropping to the ground heavily. Standing again, her heart dropped when she saw a 7-foot tall absolutely beautiful woman standing outside the door, smirking at her, green eyes sparking with mischief, perfectly styled blonde hair neatly in place.  
  
"You, what are you doing here?" Audrena spat, glaring at her fraternal twin. Mara smiling grinned, holding up a hand as though to silence her . . .  
  
A blood splattered hand . . .  
  
Audrena's eyes widened, shoulder's dropping quickly and a helpless look coming to her eyes, heart freezing over completely and dropping to her knees. "You couldn't have . . ." She rushed, hoping against what she knew in her heart to be true, no matter how much she hated it.  
  
"Oh yes I did." She hissed, looking at her nails, as though bored. "He was no trouble, though he did complain a lot."  
  
It hit the new pilot like a ton of bricks. Shock was the only thing on her now snow white face, but it was replaced quickly by desperate disbelief. Audrena clenched her fists, glaring at her sister with a deep running hatred, unshed tears gleaming in her blazing eyes. "You BITCH! How could you kill our father?! He did nothing you!"  
  
"Simple." She said airily, still staring at her fingernails. "Because he had no use. He was a hindrance to my prefect ideal. Therefor, he had to be eliminated." She looked up from her perfectly manicured and polished nails to grin wickedly at her younger sibling, which she liked to rub in, even if she was only 3 minutes older. Audrena glared daggers at the much taller Mara, but couldn't help thinking, despite all the pain, 'Good god she's vain . . .'  
  
"Come to think of it, you don't exactly fit into that picture either." She said, leaning forward and removing herself from the wall. Despite herself, Audrena gulped. There was no one to get her out of this one . . . Mara smirked. She could almost see the thoughts running through her sister's head.  
  
"Yes, my most deplorable sister, no one is here to protect you anymore . . ."  
  
"I don't know how I'll do it, but I'll get you one of these days. You'll get justice, and I'll gladly spit on your grave when it happens!"  
  
"Language language little sister." Mara tutted, waving her finger at her. "Naughty naughty."  
  
"Go to hell!" Audrena cried passionately, wishing that she could just wake up.  
  
There was a pause, very uneasy on Audrena's part. "Save me a seat." Mara smirked, raising her hand, the palm flickering with hostile power . . .  
  
There was silence for a very long time.  
  
"Satisfied that you now know my past?" She muttered bitterly, getting up and walking away. "I knew I shouldn't have come . . ."  
Big oops on Kyle's part! Things start getting better in chapter 5, Losses and Gains. See you then! 


	5. Losses and Gains

All right! The big battle you've all been waiting for! Here it is! A Year's hello and a Minute's Goodbye!  
Kyle was woken up by a brutally cold bucket of water that was thrown over his face. Snapping awake with a 'HOLY GOD IN HEAVEN!' the pilot tried to spring out of bed, but something was sitting on his chest. Blinking through the near freezing water that had been thrown on his face, he glared up at a pair of orange eyes winking at him in the darkness.  
  
"Troden . . . you are aware that I am going to kill you." He growled, the tiny zoid finally letting him sit up. "I was having the nicest dream too!"  
  
"About WHO?" The shadow fox replied in that I-bet-it-was-something- dirty voice that Kyle had come to know so well.  
  
"No, you dirty-minded grease pit!" He crossed his arms and looked away, sounding indignant in his next statement. "Besides, it was more of a what then a who."  
  
"OOOOOOH! Now we're getting somewhere!" Kyle sighed, then scowled at Troden with a look that could have frozen fire.  
  
"No you dim-wit! I was dreaming about a 3-mile long buffet!" Troden's mood instantly soured.  
  
"Yeah right." The fox sneered, jumping off the bed and disappearing into a heating vent. Kyle rolled his eyes, the hazel going a deep silver in his annoyance. He blinked, then shook his head, proceeding to the bathroom to clean himself up, not to mention warming himself as well.  
  
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The hangar was buzzing with activity, the noise level almost deafening. About 50 zoids, shrunken and normal sized, were rumbling about, stocking up a Shield Liger, one Raynos, and a copy of the Liger 0 Panzer full of extra energy cells, fuel boosters, and other custom upgrades found only in the Aircraft carrier sized weapon storage facility. The other pilots stood dumbfounded to the side, never seen such a collaboration of machines before. Their zoids didn't complain, after all, they didn't have any sort of black box or AI system installed. So the more curious (and less informed) zoids would poke at the non-moving guests, trying to get them to react. It was only when Audreniliger came strolling in from the 20th floor (The Bar Room) with a box of French fries in her mouth did the bunch scatter.  
  
"What a bunch of idiots . . ." The Liger rumbled, turning her head as the elevator opened to reveal a very determined looking Audrena. Glaring out from under the hood of her battling attire, her steely brown gaze went over everyone of the guest team, each one of them with his or her aliases. Two males, one female, and each of them scared out of their minds to being here. They had all heard of the Void team, but they had never been even near the actual pilot of the one-zoid team.  
  
"Well! So this is the famous Audrena." One of them quipped; stepping forward boldly and getting a scorching glare from their black robed host. "Not much to look at in my opinion!"  
  
"That's what everyone says at first," Audrena said calmly but coldly, striding slowly past him. But they quickly change their minds when they find their zoid sliced in half and the cockpit ripped from the body within 5 minutes of the starting bell." As she went by, she whispered quietly under her breath: "Don't be surprised if you find yourself under friendly fire . . ." Audreniliger chuckled, then glanced around again as the zoid's elevator hauled up the last member of the team, Fury. He had been polished to a gleaming hulk, armed with speed promoters abound and a holographic projector, complete with heat exchanger and cloaking devise. The massive Berserk Fury felt very proud of himself, and his new paint job, which had been changed to a deep silver instead of white. Kyle had ridden up as well, since it was nearing battle-time, and he looked like he had just downed 17 caffeine pills. The pilot was incredibly hyper, but that was out of nerves. It was worse then when he was to go up against Audrena the first time . . . he was also getting looks from the other pilots, whispering behind their hands . . .  
  
"Who's he?" "What's he doing here?" "I didn't think that Audrena allowed any other humans in her home . . ." "So Audrena really does have a lover!"  
  
He did his best to ignore it.  
  
"A little jumpy are we?" Audrena muttered over the com-link, leading the bunch out in the Audreniliger and walking beside Fury and Kyle. Despite the fight they had, the two had become pretty good friends, much to Kyle's liking. Unlike Kyle, Audrena had no long-term plans with this friendship.  
  
"Yeah . . . I guess so. I've just never fought as a team before. It's always been me alone."  
  
"Ah yes. All alone . . ." Fury added, grinning stupidly while Audreniliger smacked her partner with a heavy tail, glaring at him. When the two zoids had successfully led the rest of the group out and their pilots were chatting amiably, the pair of intelligent machines began to plot.  
  
(Is it just me or do I smell pheromones?) Audreniliger uttered, speaking in Binary code just in case either of their pilots noticed the communications. Fury tried not to look confused.  
  
(What does that mean?) He replied, sounding idiotic and brainless. The liger growled in annoyance. Boy, he was dumb sometimes.  
  
(I meant with those two! Can you tell that they are starting to . . . you know.) That also took a while to click in Fury's brain, but when he did get it, he chuckled that I-know-a-dirty-little-secret chuckle.  
  
(Oh! So that's what you mean! Well, I already knew that.)  
  
(Really?)  
  
(Yep. Don't tell Kyle this, but I've been spying on his dreams. Heeheeheeheehee!)  
  
(You pervert! . . . . . . . Tell me! My conniving mind must know!)  
  
(Ha! Who's the pervert now!)  
  
(Shut up and tell me!) Fury sighed and sent her the recordings he had made. The normally mocking blue eyes went wide.  
  
(Ewww . . . he's dreaming of doing . . . stuff.) The liger muttered, sickened by what she saw.  
  
(Let's . . . stop going on that subject. I've got an idea! Let's get them together!)  
  
(What?! That is so cruel! . . . and so good too!)  
  
(So what do you say? Give the two a push in the right direction with a one drink apiece spiked with pheromones and let the instinct do the rest?)  
  
(Sounds good to me! Good god we're mean!)  
  
(I know, and it's so easy!)  
  
Audreniliger was about to reply, but her pilot suddenly pulled her to a halt. Audrena, having suddenly felt like she was very alone, whipped the liger around to look behind her, where the rest of the group was supposed to be. There was nothing but empty desert air. Kyle paused as well, sensing a sudden spike of fear in the air.  
  
"What is it?" He whispered, starting to feel the tension. The silence was very unnerving; there was nothing out here, and only the sound of a dust storm beating futilely against the armor plates disturbed the tense quiet.  
  
"They're gone. The whole bunch that I recruited, they're go-" Explosions out of the blue rocked the currently shield-less Audreniliger, the relentless bombardment sending up smoke.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Audrena cried, bracing herself against the blows while typing furiously on the many buttons set into the controls. The shield went up, deflecting the rest of the missiles. Kyle had jumped away in shock, throwing up his own shield for defense, though he received none of the assault. Even with infrared, he couldn't see through the cloud of heat and smoke.  
  
"AUDRENA! You ok?!?"  
  
"Kyle, throw down that shield and charge your speed thrusters! It's two on six here and I'm gonna need help!" Kyle's eyes narrowed and he nodded once, feeling a little relief when he saw the Audreniliger hauling itself up, shaky but intact.  
  
"My god, where did these guys come from?" Audrena muttered reverently. "They just appeared on the radar screen!" Kyle glanced at it, then did a double take. 6 large dots had formed a circle around them and closing fast. A sudden roar to his right made him turn his head, and an incredibly fast blue blur tackled the Audreniliger, the both of them rolling away and trying to kill each other. A high pitched whine behind him told of something really big being charged up to fire. An intense blue glow illuminated Kyle's eyes and Fury was teleported about 25 feet to the left, just as a particle cannon shot blasted by to knock an inconceivably fast Raynos out of the air with one discharge. Kyle watched all this as he punched up the shield while the CPC finished charging, thinking about his situation with a now lightning fast mind. He couldn't figure it out. Every enemy zoid out here was moving faster then the Audreniliger ever hoped to. What was going on here?!  
  
The Audreniliger rolled onto her feet as quickly as she possibly could, narrowly avoiding a swipe from Liger 0 yager. Audrena narrowed her eyes at Bit, an old foe. "Liger, charge up the Gamma fang, we're gonna need every ounce of EMP that we got."  
  
"Right then!" The zoid growled, the fangs beginning to glow. This had cost them precious time. Bit, under mental control of their new team owner Mara Void, pushed him liger forward, the massive machine leaping onto the unprepared Audreniliger, sinking the fangs into it's back. Audrena growled and turned on the shield and releasing a massive wave of EMP in the same instant. The human let out a happy whoop as the liger was thrown off by the sudden electrical shield, components and computer discs being fried to a crisp by the magnetic pulses.  
  
"YES!" She shouted, pumping the air wit a fist in a tiny victory dance. It didn't last very long though. Even the EMP laced shield didn't stop the super charged Shadow Fox from barging in, long range cannons firing at point-blank.  
  
-  
  
Kyle wasn't faring so well. Leena was pelting him with a seemingly endless supply of missiles and other objects that sought to enter his shield. Fury began to feel the effects of the ceaseless bombardment, his shield being strained to the limit.  
  
"Kyle . . ."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Kyle!"  
  
"I know! Just hold the blast in until I say so!"  
  
"I'll try . . ."  
  
Kyle's forehead beaded with sweat, adrenaline pumping through his veins. He had been watching Leena's firing for about 10 minutes, and there was always a small pause between the volleys, which always lasted for a certain amount of time. Seeing or rather feeling the impacts of rockets lessening, he threw down the shields as fast as he possibly could and opened fire with his own long range rifles, the aiming done courtesy of Fury. It only took 5 well-placed shots to take the Gun Sniper down, and it crumpled under it's own weight. Kyle grinned and patted the cockpit around him.  
  
"Great aiming Fury." He said proudly. Fury grinned, but stopped quickly as he turned to face his newest foe.  
  
"Hello cousin. Good to see you again." The com-link growled, the voice of Vega Obscura coming over the line. Kyle's eyes narrowed, and the silvery gray of his eyes flashed electric blue for a moment.  
  
"Vega." Kyle replied curtly, nodding once. Vega's black eyes were gleaming oddly, and a very odd color as well. They were flashing a deep moss green. An alarm bell went off in the back of his mind, and his own eyes flare blue as he transmits his zoid out of the way, just in time to avoid a projected EMP stream, shot from the air. Both Fury and Kyle crane their heads up to look at this new comer, and raised an eyebrow. What was a Redler doing here?  
  
-  
  
Audrena glared at the words 'Incoming Message', hating the fact that Audreniliger's shield was straining to keep Brad's Shadow Fox at bay. Three down, but three more still in action. Growling at herself, she let out the com-link.  
  
"What is it?!" She barked irritably, and was about to say something else, but was startled into silence. Her eyes then narrowed to mere slits in remembered bitterness.  
  
"Mara." She spat, saying the word as though it made her want to puke.  
  
"Ah yes, you remember me. Like my team?" Mara chuckled darkly, green eyes gleaming with effort of directing every one of her team that was still active and super charging their zoids as well.  
  
"So who's the new comer? The one with the dark silver berserk Fury?" Mara inquired, grinning evilly. A plan came to her mind, a wicked thought. She's finally come to care about someone! The half-saiyan thought with malevolent delight. If she loses another loved one; I wonder how she'll react. If it's going to be more violently then when I killed our father, then this'll be a pleasure to watch! But how am I going to go about doing this without my sister noticing?  
  
Audrena glared one last time before cutting the connection. She knew that smile, that grin that meant something horrible was about to happen . . .  
  
"Audrena! Head's up!" Audreniliger's cry threw her back to reality. Audreniliger had taken care of the Shadow fox by herself, and now was about to be blasted to bits by an oncoming Particle Cannon shot. Gritting her teeth, Audrena turned to face this approaching energy discharge. Glancing up and seeing Mara's Redler overhead, she grinned suddenly.  
  
"Charge forward Audreniliger, towards Vega's Berserk fury."  
  
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!?!?"  
  
" . . . Maybe I am. But if you don't move, we're going to be fried zoid anyway!" The yellow liger nodded resolutely, and charged forward.  
  
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Kyle watched this with disbelief.  
  
"What in heaven and hell are you doing?! That suicide!" He shouted at her, though he knew she couldn't hear him. Fury shook his head as well.  
  
"If she's planning something, then it had better be good."  
  
Audrena squinted her eyes against the light as she ran to meet it head on. The timing on this had to be exact, otherwise the both of them would get a face full of Charged Particle Cannon. Fingers flying over the keyboards, numerous figures and signals appeared on the screen, including a 2-D model, showing the Audreniliger encased in a bubble. Glancing up, she saw just how close that blast was getting. Another few seconds and they'd be vapor.  
  
"That's it." Kyle spat. "Fury! Charge the CPC! It's obvious that Audrena has lost control." Energy began gathering in Fury's mouth, and Kyle ran a hand through his dark brown hair. He didn't know what on earth Audrena was thinking, but he was going to get her out of it, nonetheless. Glancing down at the computer screen as red letters flashed across it, he smirked at the message.  
  
'Charging Complete. Fire?'  
  
"Sorry to do this to you cousin," He said, almost spitting the word 'cousin'. "But one has to protect their friends against their own mistakes!"  
  
Fury roared, leaning forward and letting loose the massive amount of destructive energy. Kyle's smirk morphed to an evil grin. "He'll never see this one coming." A few moments passed, then his grin melted away into an expression of shocked horror, the color draining for his face.  
  
"OH MY GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!" He had never punched up a com-link that fast before, and into it he screamed: "AUDRENA, LOOK OUT!"  
  
-  
  
Audrena grinned evilly, the shield having been re-programmed within 10 seconds time. Looking up, the blast was almost directly in front of her. Her hands shaking, her jammed every control downward, making the zoid hit the dirt just as the energy beam went flying a few inches overhead. "Perfect." She muttered, then raised the newly calibrated shield. It did rise, but instead of round, it was angled at a 45° angle directly in front of the liger's head. Audrena watched grinning, as the energy was split in two, one arcing upwards, the other being reflected back at Vega's fury. Mara, from above, watched in horror as Vega's Fury let out a roar and toppled over.  
  
"NO! Not again!" She screeched. She didn't even see the deflected particle blast coming. A massive explosion rocked the Redler, both wings obliterated. Only the triple armored body was left to tumble from the air, leaving a trail of smoke behind . . .  
  
Audrena was practically jumping around in her seat in victory, having lowered the shield, when Kyle's urgent message came in. Blinking, she looked up through the cockpit glass and her deep brown eyes went wide with panic. As Vega's Fury fell, through the smoke came yet another Charged Particle shot.  
  
"HOLY GOD!" She screamed, trying to raise the shields in time, but it was too close by the time she noticed it. It impacted the midsection like a train going through a car. Both Audrena and Audreniliger let out a screech, white light over shadowing everything . . .  
  
-  
  
Kyle watched with disbelief as Audrena heeded his warning and looked up to see the friendly fire about to obliterate her. It scared him, that wide- eyed look of fear that she had in her eyes. Another moment, her side of the screen shuttered, he heard her scream, and the com-link went to static. Kyle's heart sank, as did his shoulders as he stared helplessly into the smoke and blinding explosions, trying to search out his friend and romantic interest.  
  
"Audrena . . . ?"  
  
He didn't know what hit him when Mara's falling Redler speared Fury through the waist, nor did he care. He was still looking for her in the smog that surrounded the impact zone. Opening the cockpit, he leapt the 80 feet out, eyes glowing visibly as he slowed down and set foot on the ground roughly, in to much of a hurry to really pay attention to his landing.  
  
Mara too emerged from her battered zoid, and saw the 25 year old running as fast as his feet could carry him to the wreckage. Her face twisted into a horrible smile, watching his carefully. She could only see his retreating back, but smirked nonetheless.  
  
I have to admit, Audrena does have good taste, but oh well. She focused on the task at hand, and she chuckled briefly, eyes gleaming moss green. You're making this too easy, Kyle Obscura . . .  
  
-  
  
" . . . Ow . . . my head . . . " Audrena moaned, blinking to get her eyes to focus. The cockpit kept blurring on her for a while before her eyes switched gears and focused, eventually. The cockpit glass to her left was cracked, blood staining the razor sharp broken glass. The blue message 'Command System Freeze' was flashing on the screen, through weakly and faintly.  
  
"Audreniliger? You there?" There was a long pause, and Audrena's hopes began to drop.  
  
"Sort of . . . my stomach hurts . . . there goes my fries."  
  
"You should be worrying more about your condition then your lunch."  
  
"Oh well . . . I'm still hungry . . ."  
  
Audrena shook her head and opened the cockpit, looking around. Her liger had sunk into a crater about 5 feet deep, the landscape looked like the moon, and Fury was lying on his side, run through with the crashed body of a Redler.  
  
Wait a minute, where's Kyle?  
  
"Kyle?" She called, walking forward and glancing around. "Kyle? Helloooo?" She was about to ask again, but on a glance to the ground, she did a double take. Foot prints, a rather large set too. That would be Kyle all right. He had the biggest set of feet this side of Zi, at least in her opinion. Looking around, another pair of prints came into view. A daintier set, no where near as deep. The smaller set seemed to run slightly behind and parallel to the larger ones before they intersected and disappeared completely. Brushing her golden-brown bangs out of her eyes, Audrena put two-and-two together coming up with a disturbing and oddly aggravating conclusion.  
  
"Mara, you complete bitch! No one captures my friends and gets away with it." She spat on the small footprints before turning and running back to Audreniliger, who had hauled herself up with some difficulty.  
  
"What's the rush?" The liger said, dipping her head for Audrena to get into the cockpit. She jumped into the seat and grinned determinedly.  
  
"We've got a POW in the enemy's hands, and we've got a rescue to perform."  
  
Audreniliger grinned evilly. The old Audrena was back again. Limping over to Fury, the liger grabbed the zoid's tail in her teeth and began to run back to base, dragging him behind. Her pilot though, was thinking of other matters. Her expression was pained.  
  
God help him. If Mara's actually got him, then he's going to need divine intervention to survive this one . . .  
  
Uh oh! Things get really ugly in Chapter 6, Charm of the Hideous. See you there! 


	6. Charm of the Hideous

And we'll get to see weather Kyle has any mental and moral fiber, because now Mara's got him, and we all should be able to guess what that means. Here it is ladies and gentlemen, Chapter 6, Charm of the Hideous.  
  
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- "Come on! Every minute could mean someone's death! And you all don't want to be responsible for that now do you?!"  
  
Zoids of all types ran around franticly, mending and repairing the battered and bashed Fury and Audreniliger. Audreniliger had shut down immediately upon arrival, and Fury was already off-line when he got to base, so it was doubled work. Meanwhile, Audrena was submerged inside both of the CPUs of each of the 'dead' zoids, tinkering with their brains. It was with a doubled work ethic that she labored away into the computer hardware of those two machines, adding in a little surprise. With all the fighting experience that they already had, then the new installments she made would take action immediately. Her fervent work was only the product of knowing what exactly would be happening right now . . .  
  
Hang on Kyle . . .  
  
-  
  
-  
  
"Oh god . . . my head." Blinking blearily, he looked around for a moment, trying to understand why he was on cold and very rough stone instead of in Fury's cockpit or on the pillow in his bedroom on the 5th floor of the Void base. Eyes flying all the way open, he stood quickly, trying to pierce the darkness that surrounded his eyes. It was after a few attempted steps that he realized that his feet were off the ground. After a minute, he tried to read his own bodily signals, trying to figure out where he was and what sort of position to get out. Pain in his wrists told that he was hanging by them. The cold of the dank stone against his chest told that someone had taken his shirt off. Judging on how his cheek was pressed against the wall, he had been chained to the wall face first as well.  
  
"Well, I'm in a bind . . ." He said to no one in particular.  
  
"Audrena?" He called, having some vague hope that this was some kind of prank. This place was really starting to unnerve him.  
  
"No, you witless boy," A voice out of the gloom chimed, almost seducing in quality. Kyle gulped. That was most certainly NOT Audrena's voice.  
  
"Your lover isn't here to save you." Kyle blinked. That was a bit of a shocker.  
  
"You sick minded . . . person! She isn't my lover!" He cried indignantly, then added, looking up thoughtfully. "Though sometimes I wish she was, but that's beside the point!" There was a cold chuckle from beyond his vision.  
  
"Who are you anyway?" He inquired, trying to get off the subject. Mara took the bait, though she knew what she was getting into.  
  
"What's in a name anyway?"  
  
"Your identity?"  
  
"Shut up!" The feminine voice snapped, the sound of something leather being unfurled adding to the sounds. "If you're so desperate for my name, it's Mara. Mara Void to be exact."  
  
Kyle's heart stopped for a moment out of shock, the hairs on the back of his neck going up. He remembered what Audrena had said about Mara, her fraternal twin with extraordinary abilities, not with machines, but with her own body . . . Mara noticed the pause and grinned evilly. Good. He recognized her name.  
  
"Yes, the Mara Void, the one that my damnable sister fears so much." Kyle blinked, trying to see Mara's form in the shadows. He only got a hint of the figure-outline, and it sent more shivers down his spine. Hearing footsteps, he could tell that this 'Mara' was approaching him. The half- saiyan, plotting wicked things for him in her mind, ran a forefinger down the side of his fairly well muscled back, enjoying the fact that he did his best to shrink away from his abductor.  
  
"Tell me, what would Audrena do if I killed you? Or better yet tortured you until your body gave out form the pain overload?"  
  
Kyle made a noise like that of a mouse being stepped on.  
  
"T-tata-ta-torture!?" He stuttered, his voice a little higher pitched then normal from sheer terror. If all the things that Audrena told him about her sister were true, then he was done for. The cackle that he heard after his statement scared him even more. His gray eyes went wide, and he gulped, terrified out of his mind. Removing his cheek from the stone, he put his forehead on the rock wall instead.  
  
Help me! He thought desperately, as though someone could hear him, and seriously wishing someone would hear his pleading. Fury, Audrena, Audreniliger, anyone! I'm at the disposal of a madwoman! HELP!  
  
-  
  
-  
  
Fury's eyes shone gray as he hauled himself to his feet along with Audreniliger, the both of them feeling quite strange.  
  
"Err . . . I feel different."  
  
"Yeah, me too. You know what's up?"  
  
"Nope. You?"  
  
"Nope." The both of them blinked, staring back at all the eyes that were staring at them.  
  
"Ok, what's going o-" Audreniliger started, but stopped in mid- sentence as the new installations Audrena put in began to take effect. The liger let loose a roar; the entire form gleaming bright white as every part began to undergo metamorphosis. The armor bleached white, the joints dyed red, the legs became normal liger legs, and the head changed as well, the eyes going to green. Curved metal blades started to pop out in a long line starting from the top of her head and extending down her back, all the way to her tail, where a massive curved scythe sprouted her tail. Two blades also sprouted on either cheek, along with on either side of each joint on the legs. Every sickle on the liger's body had the point extending towards the back, giving it a stream-likes look. The whole body was white now, and each of the metal scythes on her body cracked and hummed with electricity. The liger let out another roar, feeling quite powerful in this new form. Fury gaped, and looked very stupid for a moment.  
  
"Whoa . . ."  
  
"I dub thee," Audrena cried, stepping out of the shadows. "The Scythe Liger!"  
  
"YES! This is great! Look at me! My legs match! I'm color coordinated!" Scythe whooped, running in a small circle in her joy. She stopped and started swinging the huge blade on her tail around in whistling arcs. "And these blades rock!"  
  
"Rock?" Fury raised an eyebrow.  
  
"It's the only think I could come up with, so there!" Scythe rushed, striking a pose. Fury sniffed pathetically.  
  
"I wanna get some of tho-" Fury's sentence was cut off when he too began to experience the strange mutation to his form. His body became slimmer, the armor quickly shading black. On his feet grew three massive cutting claws, each a strange green tint. Two curving metal spiked outlined his eyes on either side, curling around his skull to almost meet behind his head, and voltage connected the two points. What appeared to be a massive cannon of some sort sprouted from his tail, and lastly, 4 dragonfly-like wings sprang from his shoulders. They were nowhere near big enough to support him in flight, but some kind of acid green jelly like membrane filled in the space between the looped metal. More currents formed the veins for these 'wings', and the transformation was complete. Fury blinked, then looked at himself, and let out a wail of despair.  
  
"Like your Zoid Evolutions? As you gain experience in battle, you will evolve to different shapes, and your advantages and disadvantages will both increase." Troden grinned widely, but Audrena kicked him.  
  
"That was my line!"  
  
"Noooooooooo! I'm evil looking!" The zoid that used to be Fury whined. Scythe whapped him and Audrena laughed.  
  
"You are now the Nitric Fury. Deal with it. Now let's go get your pilot and get this over with!"  
  
"Yahoo!" Nitric squealed, grinning idiotically as Audrena climbed into Scythe's cockpit. She smirked, her eyes blazing with determination and confidence.  
  
Hang in there Kyle. We're coming . . .  
  
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-  
  
Kyle's hands trembled in the irons that held his wrists, gritting his teeth against the fire that was his back. In all of his life, never before had he felt such pain, internal or external. Mara wasn't kidding when she said torture. His back looked like raw hamburger from her whip. She had been merciless in the brutal thrashing, and now he knew why Audrena hated her so much. He couldn't imagine taking 15 years of this and not breathing a word to anyone about it.  
  
He thanked the stone for being moist and cold against his fevered brow, sweat coursing from his pores. This was one of his 'rest periods' that Mara had permitted, where she didn't hurt him, but it was a precious hour compared the long hours of both mental and physical pain. Sometimes she would taunt him more then whip him, and that taunting, what torment could compare to it! She could read his mind like an open book, she could see into all of his fears, his hopes, his fantasies (he's only human, what can you expect?), his mishaps, his mistakes, his most embarrassing moments, everything. Mara would reveal them, even ones that he had forgotten, bringing them to mind, but the things that hurt the most, was when she went off on his romantic affinity . . .  
  
~"So!" She started, sitting down in a chair behind him, her whip in hand, but currently at rest. Kyle let his teeth unclench. He would have to talk back, just keep those lashes away from his bleeding skin. "I was looking in your brain, and I found the most interesting sight that I have ever seen!" She sounded ecstatic over absolutely nothing.  
  
"Let me guess," Kyle muttered dryly, looking to the side with fresh loathing in his hazel eyes. "Something along the lines of some kind of fantasy."  
  
"How'd you know?" Mara let out a giggle, though in the way it sounded, it shouldn't have been a giggle.  
  
"I'm the one who made them up Mara." He replied curtly, still glaring off into space. "I try and catalog them, so that I can pull them up for future reference."  
  
"You treat your brain as though it's a computer . . . but nonetheless, even your own brain was reluctant to let me see this one." She closed her eyes, and her forehead furrowed. Kyle blinked, then watched as one of his own little daydreams came up and played before his eyes. He blinked, looking at the stone wall as though it was a movie screen. He had just dreamed this a few days ago. A few minutes later, his eyes snapped open again, and he was blushing furiously. He never wanted ANYONE except himself to see that one; much less his new worst enemy.  
  
"What do you get out of this Mara? Do you find some sort of pleasure in humiliating me?" Kyle sighed, feeling like his face was inside a frying pan. Mara grinned. She got him there.  
  
"Actually, yes. It's quite entertaining to watch your version of carrying Audrena off and making mad l-"  
  
"OK I GET THE POINT!" Kyle screeched, not wanting to hear anymore about his reveries every again. If anyone was going to critique them, it was going to be him and him only! Mara let out a laugh; this was so much fun! He looked like a strawberry with chocolate fondue on the top, he was so red!~  
  
He hung limply in his manacles, hoping that he hadn't wasted his time going over the past few hours, when in fact, his time was up. He heard a door close, along with the sloshing of something in a pail. "Rise and shine, Kyle boy!" Mara shouted cheerfully, throwing the scalding saltwater onto his raw back. Pain racked Kyle's whole body. He could feel the open flesh on his back being parboiled, and it was agonizing, the salt making it worse. He groaned through gritted teeth, not wanting Mara to get the satisfaction of hearing him cry out in his suffering. But the most aggravating thing of all was that he heard giggling over it everything.  
  
"You bitch . . ." He spat maliciously, his hatred not being affected by his mental exhaustion. That caused another laugh.  
  
"Look Obscura," She stated in a business like tone, as though flogging and nearly boiling a man were every day activities, which, in her case, probably was.  
  
"I'm only doing this to hurt my sister. None of this is really meant toward you, I have no grudge against you. It's just that I know my sister, being the heroin-wannabe that she is, will come galloping on the scene to come and rescue her dear sweethea-"  
  
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?! SHE DOESN'T EVEN GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ME, GOT IT?!?" He sighed, shaking his head as best he could.  
  
"Good god," Kyle muttered. "I feel like a broken record." Blinking, he heard something sparking behind him. A horrible thought dawning on him, he wished he hadn't even opened his mouth.  
  
"I wasn't finished." Mara said coldly, all mirth and playful malevolence gone from her voice. "You interrupted me." Kyle heard the chair Mara sat in squeak, meaning that she was now standing. 'Uh oh . . .'  
  
"So far you have only received a taste of how cruel I can really be. A small appetizer. Now," The sparking noise was replaced by a humming pitch, which unnerved the very unfortunate Kyle even more.  
  
"Get an entrée of how unmerciful I really am!"  
  
Kyle had no idea what she did to him, but whatever it was, it felt like he had just been thrown into the 7th circle of Hell. He did his best not to scream, instead he howled behind his teeth. The agony was intense; it was all he could do not to scream. Had a thousand white-hot butcher knives been shoved into every square inch of his skin at the same time, he would have felt deep relief. Had he been dropped into a vat of boiling sulfuric acid, Kyle would have felt a whole set better. That was the level of pain he was in, quivering in his chains, trying not to black out.  
  
"That, my dear pilot," Mara quipped, sounding happy that Kyle was in complete agony. "Was a Pain Ball, designed solely by my mother." She gave out a happy little chuckle. "It over-stimulates every nerve in the body to signal incredible pain, even though there is no nerve damage in real life. It's the perfect mental torture devise, because there is no bodily damage, but the brain is completely overwhelmed! And another thing, it never wears off! Not unless I withdraw the energy, otherwise you're stuck like this, suffering for hours on end!"  
  
Kyle's fingernails dug into his palm until they bled, his eyes shut tightly against his suffering. He honestly didn't know how long she would keep him like this, but he hated her now with every fiber of his being.  
  
"Oh, I can just see Audrena's face when she finally finds out where you are and comes here, only to find your body, still warm but with a look of pure horror frozen on your face! What guilt she will feel that she wasn't here in time to save her friend!" Kyle's face contorted in sad acceptance. He was just a pawn in all this, a sibling fight blown far out of proportions. So she was going to kill him . . . he shouldn't be depressed about it. After all, no one but his zoid would really care if he were gone. No matter how much he wished and hoped that that statement wasn't true, it probably was. A quote he had remembered seeing once somewhere floated up, and now he understood the truth in it.  
  
'"Sometimes... you can cry until there is nothing wet in you. You can scream and curse to where your throat rebels and ruptures. You can pray all you want, to whatever god you think will listen. And still, it makes NO difference. It goes on, with no sign as to when it might release you. And you know that if it ever did relent...it would not be because it cared."'  
  
When he felt like something was being sucked from his body, he went limp, the burning of his cooked back a welcome. Turning his head, he put his temple to the wall and panted slowly, thanking god for letting him survive that. Coming back to hazy reality, he left someone next to him and he shrank away, knowing who it was, but not in time to avoid a cold finger on his cheek. The perfectly painted but razor sharp nail cut the skin as it went down, bleeding like a normal paper cut.  
  
"And to think," Mara whispered, on the brink of laughing at him. "That was only level one. Level 2 is ten fold worse then what you just experienced." Even in the dark, you could see how pale he went. There was a cackle as she turned to leave the room, and a sudden idea struck Kyle's battered mind. Perhaps he could stall for time; after all, living in pain is better then the emptiness of death, isn't it? He blinked, trying to think of something that would really sting his torturer. 'Wait a second, Audrena said she was very vain . . .'  
  
"Just so you know," He started placidly, sounding as though he had not a care in the world, though in truth he was wishing he had never even considered the idea. "I've seen cows with smaller rear ends." The sound of shoe rubber squeaking on the floor from a sudden stop echoed around the large room.  
  
"What?" Mara retorted; her voice so venomous and spiteful it almost scared him. He gained a little bit of courage from this, and he smirked at her, the rims of his hazel eyes gleaming blue.  
  
"You heard me, or maybe the titanic-sized folds of fat on your neck absorbed the sound? Shall I repeat myself?" He tried not to giggle. Even though he was scared to death of what would happen if he continued, he was having the time of his life insulting the half-saiyan. He could hear Mara coming toward him. That's right, you god-forsaken dog-dropping, come 'ere and get what you deserve.  
  
"And have I mentioned those talons that you call nails? My Berserk Fury takes better care of his claws then you with those pincers that you call nails! Ha!" He threw in one that was from Ancient Earth; one that he found very amusing.  
  
"You're mother was a hamster," He added, shouting the last bit in a horribly done French accent. "And your father smelt of elderberries!" He kept his smirk, though he wanted to burst out laughing at this weird comment. He mirth was plugged when he started feeling hot breath against the side of his face.  
  
"Folds of fat?" Mara hissed venomously, her whisper seething with menace. "I was considering letting you off, but that did you in!"  
  
Kyle shuddered, hearing the unfurling of the whip. 'I really shouldn't have opened my big mouth . . .'  
  
"Taste leather strips, you despicable boy!"  
  
Kyle's hands curled into fists, his teeth clenching together as the whip bit into his freshly scabbing back, the bleeding starting all over again. He did what he had been doing for the past few hours to escape the pain, putting his head against the wall and distancing himself from his consciousness, trying to lose it. Kyle never could fully get away from his bodily pain, so he received it anyway, a solitary tear trickling down the side of his cheek from the relentless scourging.  
  
'Where are you Audrena?'  
  
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The two pumped and ready to rumble zoids approached the squat building. Audrena scowled at the stone structure.  
  
"Should of known Mara would live in a bunker like that."  
  
"So how shall we make our entrance?" Nitric asked, looking at the seemingly door-less structure. Audrena lowered her head, thinking hard, but always keeping her intense dark brown gaze on that stone building. She didn't raise her head when the thought came to her, but she grinned sadistically to signal it.  
  
"The only way I know how."  
  
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"Had enough?" Mara barked, her knuckles white on the lash handle. Kyle's back was now streaming and dripping blood, the red liquid pooling beneath him. His vision began to swim before him from blood loss, and he did his best to keep from blacking out. He kept his silence though, and that infuriated his captor. Mara growled, raising the whip for another round . . .  
  
The stone wall two inches from where Kyle was hanging burst inwards, the stone exploding outwards from the battering ram that was Scythe's skull. Dust flew everywhere, blanketing the scene in a cloud of black-gray powder. Mara threw herself to the ground to avoid the spray. When she looked up though, she found two extremely bloodthirsty-looking zoids hovering over her, ready to squash her like a little annoying wasp. Mara let out a growl, sitting up, her eyes glowing green and her hands starting to gather energy . . .  
  
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The chains that had been holding Kyle's legs to the wall broke loose from the sheer shaking of that stone wall when it was broken through. By this time though, he was too numb in his mind to notice. Though he did notice when the iron holding his left hand was snapped off, leaving him hanging by his right. He lifted his eyes tiredly to look up at what was burning through his chains, and he let himself fall when those shackles came undone. He winced, his back going aflame by the mere touch of a steadying hand to his shoulder, even when somebody caught him as he fell, soft arms going around his chest to slow his fall. Through the haze that was his vision, he vaguely recognized a fairly tanned oval blob hovering over him; the rest revolving so quickly he couldn't exactly make the background out.  
  
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Audrena did her best to find a flat and debris-less part of the floor, dragging him as gently as she could. Finding such a spot, she had to curl him on his side because the area was very narrow, and she couldn't risk infection. She had seen the pool of blood on the floor when she first came in, and was now curious at what the extent of the damage was. Kneeling next to him, she leaned over, looking at his back. She turned her head as quickly as she could, feeling like she was going to be sick. So, Mara hadn't lost her touch in all these years. Instead, she turned her attention to his face, hoping he was at least conscious, and she wasn't dealing with a cadaver.  
  
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Kyle tried his best to grin, but his face didn't really want to. So instead, he tried to make visual contact with Audrena, to try and get his message across. He did end up smiling, through his eyes. He hoped Audrena would see it.  
  
"Knew you'd come Audren." He murmured in the loudest voice he could muster at that moment, sounding strained and exhausted but grateful and happy at the same time. Audren. So what if it wasn't her full name? It'll be a nickname for her, at least, that what he'd call her. All this stumbled through his listless brain; it had certainly seen better days.  
  
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With a large pistol-like injection needle, Audrena inoculated him with a convalescent hypo; a drug chemically engineered to stimulate intense healing speed, so the patient would be up and about within minutes. It only worked on muscle, skin, and nerve damage, and it couldn't repair everything, but it was the best that she could do in a short amount of time. She risked a glance at his face and caught sight of something strange. He was smiling at her, well, at least trying to. But his silver- grey eyes were shining with gratitude and livid trust. She blinked, confused.  
  
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"Knew you'd come Audren." He whispered hoarsely, and from his voice, she could tell that Mara had gotten him pretty well. Despite herself, she could feel her eyes stinging, the forerunner of tears in her eyes. Audren, a pet name for her, a sobriquet only for her. She stared back into his eyes for a moment, reading him like an open book. He was so innocent, so completely innocent . . . he shouldn't be here, suffering like this. He shouldn't have been in such afflictions as this; he should be out with normal people, living a normal life, instead of caught up in this deadly chess game. Incredible guilt was heavy on Audrena's shoulders in that moment.  
  
'One long past decision dragged you unwillingly and unknowingly into this mess.' She thought to herself, running the back of her fingers along his jaw line in an attempt to comfort him in his pain. She rejected it, but knew that this was a warning sign that Mara had shown, of what was going to happen to her. 'You suffered because of my sister's hatred for me. You were caught, like so many others before you, in this stupid rivalry that should had ended years ago, if Mara had let old feelings go like any sane person should have. I'll try not to let that happen again . . .'  
  
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Focused for a few moments that seem to stretch for a few cherished hours, Audrena's face slid back into the blur that was creeping back over his vision. He vaguely felt the hand that was stroking his cheek, and a strange feeling came out of it. An unusual, but very pleasant thought came to his muddled mind, and the tone in his eyes changed for a moment to reflect that thought before he passed out quietly from blood loss, the convalescent hypo having not restored his blood levels yet.  
  
She could have gone on thinking at him, trying to atone for what she had dragged him into, but was shocked out of her chain of thought when she saw a dramatic change in the emotions in his eyes. It was something she had only seen in the movies, or with zoids on whom she had installed the experimental reproductive systems.  
  
A tender gaze, from hazel eyes that never lied.  
  
A loving look, delivered from a glance that stung her heart like a poisoned arrowhead. No way! This couldn't happen! It was impossible! No one cared! She had lived by the code all her life, and now . . . someone loved her? Audrena shook her head violently. No way! It can't happen. It's never happened, and it never will happen. She shook it off, looking down at Kyle's face cautiously, only to see that he had gone unconscious. Two things went off, a warning bell and a mental sigh of relief, but she shook it off. Remembering that Mara was here too, her long-lived hatred and boiling anger resurfaced, doubled in strength by the fact that her friend had been hurt . . .  
  
Audrena took one last look into Kyle's face with an apologetic gaze, turning her head to Mara, standing there victoriously over the fallen Scythe, numerous burnt holes in the snow-white armor. Fury was still there, but had backed away, nudging the frozen liger's carcass. The zoid pilot's eyes narrowed, the irises of her eyes actually turning black as she rose, a red rim beginning to appear in the unconceivably enraged Audrena's eyes. The silence and tension between the two sisters rose to a fevered pitch, until Audrena, not being able to hold it in anymore, curled her small fists and let out a bellowed growl, almost animal-like in it's fervor.  
  
"MAAAAAARAAAAAA!" -  
  
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Woo! *Pats Kyle* Poor Kyle! He got tortured! But he's going to get his revenge, as will Audrena, in the chapter coming up next, where the conflict will make the fight you have with your parents or siblings look like child's-play! See you at Chapter 7, A Year's Hello and a Minute's Goodbye! (I'm finally using that chapter name! Yay!) 


	7. A Year's Hello and a Minute's Goodbye

Uh-oh! Mara's been caught, Kyle's healing, and we're going to have a sibling showdown on our hands! Here it is, Chapter 7, A Year's Hello and a Minute's Goodbye! - Since I forgot to do this before, I will say it now. I do not own any of the characters except for Audrena, Mara, Troden, James (yes he will be used again, at least the name will be, veeeeeeeery far into the future.) the Scythe Liger and her following evolutions, and any villains forthcoming that you have never heard of before. Got it? Good! Now read! -  
  
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- "Audrena, it's been too long!" Mara cried, voice sickeningly sweet and sisterly. Audrena's expression didn't change.  
  
"Cut the crap Mara." She spat, throwing a hand to the side to emphasize her point. "What do you think you were doing?! Kidnapping Kyle like that?!"  
  
"Simple." Mara called airily, her voice a bored drone. "I have always been trying to hurt you Audrena. It's the big sibling instinct. You see it all the time in nature. Take hawks for example. They always lay two eggs in a clutch. And one chick, the strongest fledgling, always kills the second, the weaker. You simply have the luck of being the weaker of the two."  
  
A long silence reigned while Audrena thought of a good comeback.  
  
"What about when you killed our brother James?! He was only 2 weeks old and you cut him apart!" Audrena burst passionately, glaring at the much taller and stronger twin. Mara chuckled.  
  
"You know, come to think of it, that was my first killing. We were what, 8 years old when he was born? Boy he made me mad. Little weakling, couldn't go anywhere without mom as well, cried through the night, always wanting something." She grinned, as though the idea of killing their little brother when he was an infant was something amusing. "It was quite satisfying when he finally did give up his miserable life. He sure did cry a lot in the process. Mom didn't mind, I think she wanted the little brat dead anyway."  
  
Audrena's eyes looked like a pair of little dinner plates; they were so round. She remembered the tiny little boy, the only other thing in the house besides her father that didn't mind her in the same room. Kids that young aren't supposed to smile, but that one did. He cried when this mother held him, but quieted instantly when Theo Void or Audrena came around, and James would smile at them! With a bittersweet memory, Audrena recalled how her father's eyes had glowed when he held his little boy, his only son. The newborn would just relax instantly in his old man's arms, whereas he squirmed away when his mother tried to hold him. When Mara came around to look at him, James would just start bawling, and she remembered once that Mara, disgusted, had handed James off to her, stalking out of the room. James, even being an infant, stopped crying and looked relieved to be away from his older sister. The two children had just stared at each other for about 2 minutes before James started laughing as though Audrena's 8-year- old face was the funniest thing in the world. Audren had just gawked at him for a moment before she too started giggling. So he wasn't as bad as everyone said he was . . .  
  
Laurana, Mara and Audrena's mother, she was home when Mara committed the crime, and didn't do anything to stop it! Audrena blinked, coming back up memory lane to the life we know as reality, and even her nerves were jarred when Mara started laughing quietly. "Though everyone says that infants don't really know any sort of emotion until they are old enough to name them," Mara went on, reflecting on how she gruesomely murdered her infant brother. "And can tell you what that child was feeling! You should have seen the fear in his eyes, the ugly turd! Pure livid fear! I could almost see him praying for me not to kill him!" Her laugh stopped abruptly.  
  
"Scum like that should not be allowed to live." Mara spat, turning her back on her fraternal twin. "And you fit into that category!"  
  
"Mara! He was only 2 weeks old! He hadn't even begun to live yet! How can you judge the kid on two weeks of life?"  
  
"Enough!" Mara shouted commandingly, turning around once again. The two sisters exchanged a hateful glance before Mara's glare morphed into a malevolent sneer.  
  
"I have been waiting a long time for this moment Audrena." Mara spouted, still smirking at her sister. Her emerald green eyes flared up and flashed acid green abruptly. Audrena's form began to shine with this unholy light as well, and her head jerked around wildly as she watched herself being lifted bodily into the air by seemingly nothing, and started thrashing about, trying to escape from what ever it was holding her off the ground.  
  
"What the hell?!" Was all she got out before she was thrown easily as the nearest wall, the impact knocking the breath out of her.  
  
" . . .Ow . . ." She muttered, sliding off the wall with black dots exploding before her vision. Stone jarred loose by the impact of her body came clunking down as Mara approached and lifting her sister again, but this time with her iron strong hands, lifting her about three feet over Mara's head, trying to suffocate her sister. Audrena's callused hands tried vainly to pry off the one hand that was attempting to strangle her, but to no avail.  
  
"If there was one thing our flea-ridden father taught me," Mara hissed, holding Audrena's whole body up with one curled hand, the fingers and palm easily big enough to wrap around Audrena's small throat. "It would have to be how to use my mind as a weapon. He tried to use his own mental powers against me when I came for him, but by then I had far surpassed his cerebral level by the time I got to him." The very mention of that event got Audrena's temper raging all over again, having been temporarily tamed by the pain from being cast into a wall. Gritting her teeth, a booted foot caught Mara in the gut. Hard. Every once of air streamed from Mara's lungs, causing her to drop her sister and double over, wheezing.  
  
Audrena scrambled up, rubbing her throat before sweeping the legs out from underneath her gasping sibling with another bit of footwork, sending her twin to the ground, still sputtering from that kick to her gut.  
  
"Serves you right, you-ack!" She didn't get to finish. A sweeping leg took Audrena's legs out from underneath her as well, dropping her to the stone floor. Mara immediately sat on her sister, restraining the now furious pilot from moving. Grabbing the collar of her shirt with one hand, the other curling into a fist and started slugging the daylights out of her sister, thoroughly enjoying this.  
  
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Kyle, right then, didn't really want to open his eyes. He would have rather drifted back off into peaceful, painless, and Mara-less unconsciousness. But, of course, his guilty conscience got to him.  
  
But what about Fury? What about Audrena? She's fending that lunatic off right now . . . all by herself too . . . keeping her from killing us both . . .  
  
His eyes snapped open, the rims bright with an electric blue glimmer. His pain was gone, he felt cloth on his chest again, and he didn't feel woozy anymore. Ready to go, he stirred, blinking a few times to clear his vision.  
  
"Audrena? Anyone?" He called weakly, his voice still faint from before. He sat up slowly, his back a tad bit sore, but nothing compared to the fire it was before. Kyle was completely oblivious to the beating that was occurring about 50 feet away, still trying to get a handle on what was happening. Rubbing his head, he looked around, and spotted a pair of green tinted clawed feet standing by him. He grinned, looking up at his zoid, but his smile fell short.  
  
"Fury? You look quite different."  
  
"I know. Its Nitric now. Just stop staring and get out there, ok? Audrena needs some serious back-up here!"  
  
"Are you the one who gave me this shirt?" He said, poking at his shirt, a white English-cut tunic style rough cotton piece of apparel. It may have been medieval-looking, but hey, it was a shirt, wasn't it? Nitric let out a growl and gave Kyle a painful nudge.  
  
"Heeeeey!" Kyle snapped indignantly. "What was that for! You know that I just spent about 12 hours being whipped right?!"  
  
"Duh. That's why I kicked you. To get your attention so you could go help your previously rescuing liberator!" Kyle blinked at him, taking a minute to make the connection.  
  
"Wait a second . . ." It was only then did he look over to the scene that was taking place did he realize what was going on. Coming to him feet quickly and nearly falling over in the process, his silver-grey eyes flashed blue and Nitric's head was yanked down to Kyle's eye level.  
  
"Why didn't you try to help her while I was down!?" He hissed angrily, shaking the zoid's head roughly. "Why didn't you?!"  
  
"Because I don't want to end up a headless zoid corpse, so riddled full of holes that I look like Scythe's head! Which is now basically BURNT SWISS CHEESE!" Nitric rushed; getting really dizzy very quickly from the constant rattling his pilot was giving him. Kyle growled, releasing his hold on Nitric, letting the zoid drop with a metallic clang and turning to Mara, who was still slugging the crap out of Audrena.  
  
"Nitric, grab Scythe and get back to base. Revive her, then come back immediately and full speed each way. Don't doddle." Nitric nodded, grabbing Scythe and splitting. That done, he could turn his attention to Mara . . .  
  
The whites of Kyle's eyes quickly disappeared under the electric blue glow, leaving only the hazel irises and black pupils to be seen. He watched the beating continue for a moment, letting his anger and revulsion grow and boil over . . .  
  
"Leave her alone Mara." He spat, glaring out from under furrowed eyebrows as she looked up from the now limp Audrena and smirked at him, standing and grinding a heel in her sister's face as she turned to face him. "You will never hit her again, so long as I live, you will never lay another finger on her again."  
  
"Oh really?" Mara taunted wickedly, glancing behind her at the seemingly unconscious Audrena. Mara hadn't gotten away clean of injury. Four of her teeth were missing, her nose was flat and bleeding profusely, and at least three bruises and a black eye were rising quickly. Kyle smirked internally. Good, Mara got a share of the thrashing.  
  
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Audrena hauled herself up to her elbows with quite a bit of difficulty, trying to see through graying haze in her vision. She vaguely saw a large figure standing over her, another one further away. Hearing the two talking, the words that reached her ears were warped versions of themselves. She shook her head violently, clearing it in a minimal sense. She glanced up, and painful recollections of that battering Mara had administered came to mind. With a growl, Audrena lashed out with another sweeping foot, giving Mara the slip before collapsing again, trying not to black out . . .  
  
The moment Mara started to fall, Kyle teleported behind her to Audrena's side, holding her so that her head rested against his right shoulder. Audrena hadn't been kidding when she said that Mara was really tough. Her face was a blanket of rising bruises, though she still had all of her teeth and her nose wasn't broken, unlike her sister.  
  
When Audrena finally noticed that she wasn't on the floor, she opened a bleary eye, only to see Kyle's concerned face staring worriedly down at her, his back against a wall.  
  
"Oh god, not you again . . ." Audrena groaned, shutting her eyes again.  
  
"I don't know how you could have lived through nearly 20 years of beatings like this." He whispered, trying to make a joke.  
  
"Go away . . ." She whined, trying to squirm away from him. He wouldn't let her go, and she didn't really have the energy to put up anymore resistance to his care. Kyle chuckled lightly.  
  
"Still the same Audren. I guess you can take a whipping and keep on ticking."  
  
"Bleh . . ."  
  
Another chuckle, neither of them noticed that Mara was starting to stir. Audrena tried to hit him with a feeble fist, but it didn't get very far.  
  
"Get lost you dim-wit," She attempted to shout; it came out as another groan. "Or I'll . . ."  
  
"Or you'll what?" Kyle asked gently, still holding her.  
  
"I'll do . . . something." She muttered drunkenly, her face feeling like a two-ton iron skillet just hit it. Kyle chuckled again, and Audrena opened a half-lidded eye, only to open them both wide from the sight that met her very sore eyes.  
  
Mara had hauled herself to her feet, raising a threatening hand in the process, the palm sparking with purple-white energy, the same that had decapitated Dr. Toros not too long ago. On her face was a glare that could have killed the dead. (Yes, killed the dead. Now think about how much anger and bitterness would have to go into that one! Whoo!) At the sight of Kyle and Audrena though, it quickly changed to a crazed triumphant smirk, the kind that sends little kids crying to mommy and adults fishing out their teddy bear.  
  
"Would you look at this, how precious." Mara sneered, thoroughly sickened by the sight of them. Audrena blinked, looking horrified, then pointed a 'He did it, not me!' finger at Kyle. Mara took no notice.  
  
"Well, it seems that you've found a rock to hold onto." Mara spat, smirking evilly. "Please, allow me to speed the forces of erosion." With that, Audrena's fraternal twin raised her palm and fired off a Cinder Shot, aimed directly at Kyle's exposed chest.  
  
Time seemed to freeze in that moment and Audrena saw everything in slow motion. She watched as Kyle's eyes expanded immensely, and his eyes flickered blue, trying to re-direct the stream of hostile power. It didn't work very well. It kept coming, and the flare powered down as Kyle realized that it wouldn't work. She watched as he swung his gaze to stare back into her eyes with an apologetic look, sad acceptance hidden in there as well. It made Audrena grit her teeth in guilt.  
  
God bless it all, he shouldn't be the one apologizing!  
  
Her guilt drove her to act on a split-second decision. Shutting her eyes tightly against what she knew she was throwing herself in front of, Audrena rotated just enough, just enough to absorb the blast as it came. She knew what would come of it, but did it anyway. After all, one has to protect the innocent in anyway they can . . .  
  
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It took a moment For Mara to realize that she had gotten the wrong person. She had long before lowered her hand, and was now trying to figure out why she had been so inaccurate. She raised an eyebrow, cocking her head to the side like a confused dog. 'What was going on here?'  
  
Kyle couldn't figure things out either. Now why would Audrena suddenly be face to face with him? Why was she suddenly looking like he did when he was being whipped? And what on earth was she doing practically on his chest?! Kyle began to connect things in his mind, especially when the both of them looked down, at the gaping hole where a heart and half a lung could have been.  
  
"Oh god . . ." He sputtered, the only thing he could say in his quickly rising panic. Eyes going wide, he went as pale as fresh snow. He didn't want to believe it. It wasn't possible; there was no way this could to her. She wasn't supposed to die! His breath bring taken in with quivering jerks he held her closer as Audrena started shaking in his arms, and she was just as wide-eyed and pale as he was, and both Mara and Kyle began to hear a crinkling noise, like tissue paper being scrunched up. Audrena was too far into death to really hear anything . . .  
  
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As soon as Audrena felt the impact of Mara's attack, she knew she was condemned to death. Even before the light faded from the initial contact, she could feel the flesh on her back beginning to disintegrate. That was what the Cinder Shot always did. Made a small hole, then dissipated into the surrounding tissue and fried it to ash, leaving a bloody mass of smoldering soot behind. In some cases, it would only spread to a certain point and stop, but usually it consumed the entire body, a very a grim prospect to anyone becoming a victim of it. Disgusting? Yes. But that was Mara's style. If you're going to kill them, why not make them suffer while you're at it?  
  
She tried to wait it out without feeling, but that idea was shot to hell when Kyle turned her chin up to stare at her, a look of shock and disbelief on his face and shining in his eyes. She blinked, clearing her vision, then the pain struck. Doing her best not to cry out, she started quivering, trying to fight it off. It was enormous, but thankfully, something was numbing it. Maybe it was the fact that her spine had been eaten away, perhaps the shroud of expiration, who knows? Having no lungs to speak with, she looked up one last time, the message in Audrena's glazed eyes was all too clear, and Kyle received it with a grain of salt, his eyes starting to sting.  
  
. . . Dragged you into this . . .  
  
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Mara watched her sister expire in Kyle's arms with triumphant merriment, happy over the fact that she had finally exterminated that disgusting worm that shared her genetics.  
  
"I hope you're happy, joining your father in Hell." Mara spat at the cadaver that Kyle was still holding, not being able to stop herself from smiling. She loved this! This was just like a paragraph out of a story she read, the two friends holding each other in the midst of death, in a dark room, no help available to them and no rescue with the villain triumphing over all. She loved it all! Pretty soon she'll have the whole of the Void base in her keeping, including all the priceless antiques it held . . . she could easily live the rest of her life as a wealthy inheritor! Her eyes sparked at the thought of it, and she complete forgot that Kyle and Audrena were in the same room as she was at the prospect of so much riches now in her grasp.  
  
Kyle, meanwhile, was contemplating everything, also feeling a bit numb if anything. He didn't feel anything, and he didn't really know why he was still gripping the deceased Audrena to him, nor why he was still ablaze with mental energy, nor why the hands that held her were glimmering with the same psychic power that his eyes held. He knew nothing anymore. He had had a pretty good life up until the last few days, until this event came to pass. He wasn't concentrating on that. He was deep in thought, trying to understand why Audrena was apologizing with her last though. Why waste your last breath on something so trivial as that?  
  
"Awww . . . Kyle's mournful because his one and only human ally has gone back to the Hell pit where she came from." Mara scorned, false pity dripping on every word. "What a tragedy!"  
  
He glanced up at her, and something much deeper then anger and hatred arose in Kyle's veins. Mara . . . she had done this. Not only had she ruined his life, but had ended the lives of her entire family . . . What Mara saw in Kyle's eyes actually started the half-saiyan. There was an urge to kill in those normally gentle hazel irises. A desire to murder, to avenge, to butcher. Blinking, she continued to stare at him as he gently laid Audrena on the ground with the utmost care before rising slowly to meet Mara's gaze, sticking his hands in his pockets as he went. He was about a little over a foot shorter then Mara was, so he had to look up, but it didn't change the level of unease between them.  
  
So Mara, Kyle taunted. I'm guessing you enjoy causing pain and bloodshed? Though, I can guess you're pretty used to it, with all the butchery you've caused.  
  
Mara recoiled at this, furrowing her eyebrows in thought while staring at him oddly. 'Telepath, that's how he's speaking without moving his lips. He's a Telepath, just as I perceived and expected. Though I didn't anticipate he would obtain his intellectual abilities so soon . . .  
  
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Kyle took note that Mara was surprised and grinned smugly. Good. She was startled. Surprise surprise, my most heathenish Mara. Didn't know I was a psychic, did you? Heck, if you were as good as you proclaim to be, then you should have been able to pick up the mental aura and, if you were the smart rogue that you wish you were, would have eliminated me first. That way, there would be no way that Audrena, your intended target, would have been able to have been protected or revived by me. But, of course, you let your hatred and antipathy get in the way of your judgement, trying to eliminate your sister first. You eventually got that something was very strange with my mind, so in a tight spot, you tried to kill me when I had my guard down. But you didn't plan on Audrena giving her life for mine. Mara gave a smirk. She could see the solitary tear slipping its way down the side of his cheek. He wasn't as big and bad as he made himself out to be. 'Heh, cocky boy, he'll learn once he joins his fellow pilots.'  
  
"Excellent perception Kyle!" Mara said in all false cheerfulness. "Guess what? You guessed my thoughts over this entire matter correctly. I have to congratulate you on that one. It won't come to help you though, even if you can read my thoughts. All I know is that you're a cocky 22-year- old boy without a drop of common sense or self-preservation and a set of mental powers that you haven't earned the right to use."  
  
25. He shot back, quickly starting to become aggravated, having bottled up his murderous intentions for too long.  
  
I'm 25. Kyle was becoming bloodthirsty. He wouldn't be able to detain his barbarous purposes much longer . . .  
  
You know Mara; you have the worst set of family values I have ever had the privilege to see in action. Killing your own mother, your father, brother, and finally your own sister? All for what? You're grand vision of perfection? Sorry Mara, but eventually you've got to learn that everyone needs someone. You, in isolating yourself, have ensured the fact that no one's going to miss you once I'm done with you. He smirked, feeling his whole body start to flicker with that strange electric blue haze. It caused a sort of tickling sensation, but it didn't really matter. What really mattered was that it showed the build-up of Kyle's murderous ideas and vengeful motives, the mental stress elevating his power capabilities and maximums.  
  
He had kept some control over it, having to restrain himself immensely from decapitating Mara when she sent Audrena to her demise. It was of Audrena's own causing, but he had seen Mara's triumphant smile. It's not like she minded either way who it was that she killed, just as long as someone died by her hand.  
  
"Look Mara," Kyle started, keeping his voice as flat and emotionless as possible, as not to give away the gale of furious turmoil going on below. "I've always wanted to live a normal life. Never wanted anything out of the ordinary, except for the occasional upset or surprise. I guess I could blame Audrena for getting mixed up into this, but I know that the whole of my life collapsed through a small act of kindness that happened over a year ago. She told me later, Audrena did, about why she took me in after so many years of complete and total isolation from human kind."  
  
Mara watched him get choked up with a mischievously malevolent smile. Though, she couldn't understand why he was breaking down so suddenly. She wasn't really good with the emotion thing yet.  
  
"She told me about you, about how cruel and inhuman you are, about how you enjoy seeing people suffer. You know what? Audrena didn't need to tell me why she took me in. I made that connection myself." He paused, looking away and gathering himself up, before giving Mara a chilling look. "All of that, just because she didn't want to end like you." His emotions got the best of him on the last few sentences, and they carried so much malice and hostility that it almost caused Mara to take a step back. She stood her ground though.  
  
"It all stems back to you!" He spat. After a minute of the two just glared at each other maliciously before Kyle threw his head back and shouted to the ceiling, not being able to take it anymore:  
  
"CAN'T YOU EVER STOP RUINING OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES?!?!?" With that, he released his bottled up anger, letting loose the wrath he had held back all this time, the force of it explosive. Mara attempted to shield herself from the blast of conserved mental power, but her own brand of mental armor shattered like thin glass . . .  
  
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People 10 miles away paused when they heard the sonic boom-like noise, looking around for the Raynos or Zabat that caused it. The bunch began to wonder what was going on when a sudden wave of intense heat began to circulate around. The more curious ones set out to search for the epicenter, stretching inward into the desert like a swarm of locusts. But, eventually, the group of meddlesome people couldn't stand the heat anymore and turned back, muttering amongst themselves as to what was going on.  
  
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Kyle sat in the middle of it all, left leg sprawled out and right knee raised, his right elbow and his head resting on it. He was staring at the ground dejectedly, distancing himself from everything and everyone, including the gasping and gulpings of the severely burnt Mara. His face was singed to a slightly raw pink color, his clothing smoky and seared but still intact and pliable. Circling around his head was a seriously charred ring of flesh, encircling his skull like a blistering crown, marking the extreme let-off of mental energy. Even he had gotten hurt, but not so critically as his target. Grim satisfaction pulsed plaintively in his mind. Just as long as Mara was suffering, he would be somewhat content.  
  
The building was gone, blown away in the initial outburst. The only thing left of it was a few stubborn stones and the floor. Mara hadn't been injured in the first let-off, it was the massive heat wave that got her. Outer skin pretty much baked, she had been thrown about 15 feet by the first burst, so she wasn't much a threat anymore. Audrena's body was untouched, the only thing other then Kyle himself within 5 miles that didn't get incinerated. He had made sure of that; he didn't want to end up having to tell the zoids that he had scorched her body to ashes . . .  
  
Lifting his head as he started to hear rumbling footsteps, he eyed the shadowy figures of Nitric and Scythe as they approached at top speed. Even then, they did not grow much larger. Just seeing the two zoids made his heart heavy. He had tried to abandon his emotions earlier, since it made everything so much simpler if you weren't feeling anything. But the glimpse of Nitric and Scythe speeding towards him, and it defeated his attempts to hide from his grief. Raising his head from his elbow and knee, he glanced behind him at the cadaver. He shut his eyes tightly, teleporting to Audrena's side. Kyle stared at her lifeless face for a while, as though hypnotized by that pale mask.  
  
"Dragged you into this . . ." He murmured softly, running a few fingers through the dead woman's hair in a delicate motion. He found in soft and silky to the touch; it only made him feel worse. "Why would she be apologizing? It should have been me who was apologizing." Crunching his eyes closed, he cradled her again, mindful of the opening in her chest, only visible where her shirt sunk inwards. There was a relatively small hole to mark where the destruction had begun, only about the size of a baseball on both front and back of Audrena's chest.  
  
With great difficulty, he kept his emotions in check as he rocked her slowly, more for his comfort then anything else. He left Mara to suffer in her severe burns; after all, she was the one who caused all this.  
  
Kyle was still hugging Audrena's body to him when the two zoids arrived, both skidding to a halt outside the foundations. They didn't have to ask what had happened when they saw Kyle cradling her body, the scene explained all.  
  
"Oh my components . . ." Kyle simply nodded, his voice flat and controlled, still staring at Audrena's silhouetted facade.  
  
"I know." Nitric poked him with a claw to get him to look up. He didn't.  
  
"What're you going to do about it?"  
  
"I . . . I don't really know." Scythe let out a sigh, looking at them all, mostly Kyle. She couldn't understand it. He could have stopped this parting, could he?  
  
"Kyle, let me have the body." Kyle didn't seem to hear her. He continued staring at the cadaver, still holding her with his hands ablaze with light. Scythe nudged him, thinking that he didn't hear her request.  
  
"Kyle? Hello?" Nitric suddenly whapped her upside the head with the massive cannon on the back of his tail, looking irked.  
  
"Shut up!" He hissed. "Can't you see? He's mourning!" Scythe shut her jaw, but blinked at the human. "Err . . ." The zoid blinked, pointing at Nitric's pilot with a claw. "Take a look, he's glowing!" Nitric still had his back turned to them, not wanting to see his pilot in pain and to leave him to his business. Scythe had to smack him with the flat of her electrified blade to get him to pay attention to her command.  
  
"I'm serious! He's doing some pretty funky stuff!" The word 'funky' by itself made him turn his head.  
  
"Funky?" He said mockingly, not turning his body but only his head. "I swear, you have the vocabulary of a hippie!"  
  
"Seriously! He looks like a little blue light bulb!" Nitric took no notice.  
  
The liger's white face was illuminated and tinted blue for a moment before it died down again, the shimmering psychic energy completely used up for the moment. Kyle was half-lidded from the expendage, having drained him to the point of being drowsy. His vision going blurry, he shook his head a little, trying to keep awake. He didn't really know what he had done to make him feel like dropping dead asleep in the middle of the floor, but along with it was a sense of relief about the whole exhaustion. He didn't know why, but it was better then the extreme grief he was just experiencing, that's for sure.  
  
It was only when he looked down again at the body in his arms did he get a real shock. Audrena had opened an eye slowly and was staring right back at him, through half-lidded eyes perhaps, but still! Blinking a couple times to see if he was hallucinating, he started to hear another crinkling noise. Glancing cautiously at the hole in her chest, he nearly face-vaulted at the sight. The gaping perforation was gone! He started to put two and two together and his expression turned from pleasant confusion to over-brimming delight. But that quickly went back to confusion and disbelief. He had healed her? How?!  
  
"Did I do that?" He asked no one in particular; sounding amazed that he had actually brought a person back from the dead. Audrena stirred, turning Kyle's attention back to her. She groaned, having a tremendous headache, and blinked blearily through the blurriness, only to see Kyle's face hanging expectantly over her.  
  
"Kyle?" Kyle's heart soared, and it was reflected in the beaming smile and the gentle hug he gave her. Audrena's eyes went wide at this sudden show of affection, but didn't really want to hit him at the moment. This was kind of nice, actually.  
  
"Well, this is new." She commented dryly, trying to stop the massive blush on her face. Unlike Kyle, she actually could, and she stayed pale.  
  
"Yes love, it's me . . ." He murmured warmly, letting Audrena go when she pulled away form him with all her might.  
  
"What did you call me?!" She said breathlessly, shocked beyond human comprehension. Did he mean what she though he meant? Kyle grinned sheepishly, turning bright red and scratching the back of his neck, standing in the same moment. 'Might as well tell her.' He thought fearfully, watching her stand as well. 'This, after all, is the best time to admit it.'  
  
"Well, the truth is Audrena, I've-" He gulped, hoping he wouldn't have to clean up his own body parts after this.  
  
"I . . . I've come to love you . . ." He whispered, and Audrena's heart sank. After recovering form this blow, she looked into his eyes, hoping to god that he was joking. It was all there, no untruths, just a warm and tender gaze. Internally, she let off a growl. Why did this have to happen!  
  
" . . .How long?" she said flatly, turning her back on him.  
  
That wasn't the reply Kyle was expecting, but oh well. At least she hadn't killed him yet.  
  
"I've just realized that my emotions for you were love, but I started to love you about 3 months ago, and it's just been getting stronger."  
  
"No . . . way . . ."  
  
Kyle never saw the punch coming. Extreme pain exploded in his temples from the curled fist, and he was unconscious before he hit the floor. So much for not getting hit. Audrena glared at him for a while before her face softened a little. Nitric and Scythe, having been watching this whole thing in complete shock and awe, let their jaws drop open as Audrena picked Kyle's battered and unconscious body up and hauled him to Nitric's cockpit, graciously lowered for her. The reanimated pilot jumped into Scythe's cockpit without a second's hesitation, leaving the burned Mara to suffer.  
  
On the way home though, Audrena couldn't help but wonder about Kyle's statement, trying to run things over in her mind. It was still startling, and even her zoid could feel the alarm that was circulating her pilot's mind.  
  
"A little on your mind Audrena?" Scythe teased, knowing it would tick her pilot off if she began prodding into her thoughts.  
  
It worked marvelously.  
  
"Yeah . . ." Audrena allowed, her tone bitter and sarcastic. "It's not every day that someone tells you they love you."  
  
"Your father used to do that all the time." The zoid shot back in a matter- of-factly tone.  
  
"That's parental love you dim-wit." The human remarked dryly.  
  
"How am I supposed to know the difference? I'm only a machine!" Scythe cried indignantly.  
  
"Look in your data banks. Tell me the definition. Maybe it'll click in your CPU then." There was a long pause before Scythe replied, sounding confused.  
  
"Audrena, you scare me."  
  
"No, Obscura should be the one who scares you."  
  
"Him too. But you more then him."  
  
"Of all heaven and hell, why?! Give me a hint, all knowing 4-legged 8- ball."  
  
"You haven't called me that in years." Scythe gave a delighted squeal. "I feel so loved!" Audrena face-vaulted in the cockpit, up in an instant with a glare on her face at the radio screen. Scythe's green-eyed blonde haired mental image was there (disturbingly identical to Mara), pointing and laughing at her human counter-part.  
  
"Shut up and answer my question." She spat, sitting back into the seat.  
  
Scythe made a pouting expression with her mechanical face and put on a very good imitation of Audrena whining. It was too well done, and set off a warning bell in her pilot's mind. "Aww . . .Do I have to?" Audrena's eyes went wider and her face looked like a red Christmas ornament from the massive blush.  
  
"You didn't!" She said, shocked and offended, hoping that the zoid didn't do what she thought she did. Scythe giggled evilly, and Audrena's fears were confirmed.  
  
"What did you expect me and Fury to do the whole time you two were lollygaging around? Play solitaire?"  
  
"You don't even know how to play solitaire!"  
  
"Don't interrupt me, but me and Fury-"  
  
"Fury? He's Nitric now."  
  
"He was still Fury then. Now can I continue telling about my prying job?"  
  
"You've got five seconds of amnesty before I start tearing you to shreds."  
  
"Fine then. Well, we tracked you, and followed behind with stealth cloaks on full."  
  
"I knew things sounded fishy from the start. And I thought that rumbling was the parade they were having for the discovery of the latest Ultimate X."  
  
"Not exactly. So we tracked you and recorded the whole conversation, and Fury did a couple of mind scannings while we were at it!"  
  
"Do you delight in making my mind miserable?"  
  
"Yep! Besides, it was sort of funny listening to the inner-workings of your minds! That was when I first got a hint about the little fling going on between you and Kyle!"  
  
"THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON BETWEEN US!" She screeched at the top of her lungs. Both Scythe and Nitric halted in their tracts, sweatdropping twice apiece.  
  
"Err . . ." Audrena grinned sheepishly. "Eh-heh. Well, it's not like there is anything there . . . at least not on my side." The two zoids eyed each other and sniggered quietly in a private joke and continued on. Audrena let out a sigh of relief, then, secretly, called a com-screen to Nitric's cockpit. Unknown to either of the two zoids, she smirked at the unconscious Kyle Obscura. Other then the huge red mark on his face to show where she had decked him, he didn't look senseless; the guy looked like he was taking a nap. She chuckled quietly. Even knocked out cold, he looked completely innocent, untouched by the world's evil. Heck, that's the reason why she sacrificed her life in the first place. To try and preserve that incorruption that he held . . . She shook her head violently, shutting off the com-screen with a booted foot.  
  
"What evil thoughts . . ." She muttered to herself.  
  
'If they were evil thoughts,' said the annoying voice in the back of her head. 'Why would you keep thinking about them? Why would you keep going over what he said and why he said it?'  
  
"Simple, trying to understand what on earth he would say something like that." She muttered, not really caring that she was talking to herself.  
  
'Then again, you liked it when he said that, didn't you.'  
  
"Most certainly not!"  
  
'Heh. Liar. Don't tell me you've forgotten already about how your heart almost skipped a beat when you heard his confession, then went completely nuts in speed?'  
  
"That was from shock!"  
  
'Or how you were trying your best not to blush scarlet in what you convinced yourself to be embarrassment when it was actually joy?'  
  
"No way! Who's the liar now!?"  
  
'Or how that your conscious mind actually admitted that the sudden and alarming warmth in your heart wasn't all that bad? How about when you were almost happy that the icy walls encasing your soul were starting to melt at the utterance of three words? Three words was all it took!'  
  
"I'm going to start ignoring you now."  
  
'Fine then, but now at least I've planted a seed of truth. No matter how much you deny it . . .'  
  
Audrena breathed a sigh of relief when that stupid conscience of hers went away. Though it's words had had a bit of truth in them. No matter how she hated to admit it, she did kind of like the fact that there was someone out there that did worry, that did give a damn if her life was on the line . . . She shook it off, shuddering blatantly. She shouldn't be feeling these emotions! They only complicated things!  
  
"Hurry home Scythe." She finally stated and her zoid understood completely. "I'm in need of a CAT scan."  
  
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A few hours later, Mara stirred, sitting up with a cry of pain. It felt like her muscles didn't want to move. Recollections of the past few hours came back to her and her anger shot to immense proportions.  
  
"I will get them back . . . oh yes . . . they will pay . . ." She muttered, standing up with extreme difficulty, looking at the ground in her anger, but she stopped cursing when she spotted a broken piece of glass with her reflection in it. She blinked, limping to it to look full on, and a look of horror lit her face.  
  
What she saw was a horrible monster, face blistering frightfully. The blast seemed to have melted her flesh and reformed it, so that lumps of muscle wadded up in odd places and left other areas skeletal. Her eyes had sunken dramatically; so they were corpse-like in their shining form the sunken pits that were her sockets. Her hair was gone, burned off completely except for a few charred chunks, and even her body was now hideously deformed.  
  
"No . . ." She whimpered, even her voice was twisted and thick. With now monstrously grotesque hands, she touched a blister as it cracked, creamy white/yellow pus leaking into her now shaking palm, her face that of someone who has just witnessed the apocalypse.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  
  
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Yay! Mara got hers! And now comes a hopefully peaceful period, but with me, always spelling doom for these two, you can never know! Anyway, I'll see you in chapter 8, Affinity or Abhorrence. Bye! 


	8. Affinity or Abhorrance?

All right, now to have some fun with those four! And Troden makes yet another appearance. This chapter is devoted to nothing but comedy and a touch of romance, but mostly hilarity. After all, the past few events have been far too somber, don't you think? Well, even if you don't think that this'll a bit of comic relief from the rest of the last 7 chapters. Here it is. Affinity or Abhorrence?  
  
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- "Scythe!" Troden called, trotting after the much bigger zoid, who stopped and waited for him. The shrunken Shadow Fox slowed down eventually, panting; though as a zoid, he didn't need oxygen. The liger standing over him rolled her eyes and continued on through the park. The fox let out a yelp and followed after her into the meadows, where she finally stopped.  
  
"Slow poke. You need to stop raiding Audrena's cookie dough stores." The German shepherd sized zoid looked horrified. Raw cookie dough was one of Audrena's favorite foods, and eternal damnation would be handed out to anyone who was caught stealing it.  
  
"Don't turn me in! I don't want to become a scrap pile!"  
  
"Fine then. I won't." She muttered, looking a little shifty-eyed. Troden didn't notice.  
  
"So, did you hear anything new about the 'Relationship'?" Troden prodded, hoping for some fresh and juicy rumors. Even Scythe, the base's queen of gossip, was getting irritated.  
  
"Troden, you've been asking me that very same question everyday for the last sixth months. So far, I haven't heard anything." The little black zoid chuckled darkly, eyes glinting strangely. He switched on his hologram, the human projection grinning sagely up at Scythe with dark purple eyes, flaming red hair framing his face. It was the newest fad. Ever since Audrena had come out with those tiny holographic projectors, every zoid in the base had to have one, to become more human, and each zoid's hologram was different, each a human-looking extension reflecting their personalities. Even Nitric had been installed with one, even though he hadn't been too creative with his projection. The dinosaur-like zoid had basically copied Kyle Obscura's features and changed the hair color and eye color. He looked quiet odd with navy blue hair and midnight blue eyes, but Scythe thought it was pretty cute.  
  
"Oh really, you haven't heard what I have then." Scythe's hologram immediately appeared, looking shocked. It looks almost exactly like Mara, except for the constant mischievous smile and laughing green eyes, a darker shade then Mara's used to be.  
  
"Really?! Whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat?!" Scythe sputtered, jumping around in her agitation. Troden raised a flaming red eyebrow.  
  
"You've got the new reproductive equipment, didn't you." Scythe stopped jumping around and stared at him suspiciously.  
  
"How'd you know?"  
  
"It causes a personality change for a while." It was in one ear and out the other for Scythe. She wasn't listening anyway.  
  
"I haven't really noticed." Troden sighed, his hologram disappearing. Scythe kept hers out, to the whistling and numerous compliments of various other Ligers that were wandering about. It's not like Scythe's hologram was exceptionally attractive; it's just that there were a very small amount of 'female' zoids that had had the new equipment installed and flaunted their holograms along with it. Almost every zoid that called themselves 'male' had lined up single file in a line that stretched to the 80th floor of the base the minute Audrena had made the announcement about it. Nitric thought it was part of the package deal with the hologram. He had no idea what he was getting into.  
  
Both Troden and Scythe looked up as Nitric went dashing by, screaming for help at the top of his lungs as he went. The biggest group of Genosaurs Troden had ever seen was pursuing the poor Nitric Fury at top speed, their holograms before them as Nitric ran into the woods that rimmed the whole park and town square, his own hologram looking terrified out his mind. Troden and Scythe viewed this procession with bored expressions, watching for a moment before turning back to their conversations.  
  
"So what's the new rumor? Huh?" Scythe withdrew her hologram, much to every male's disappointment. She ignored it as Troden gave her a mischievous smile.  
  
"Well, I heard this from an old friend who heard from another friend, who heard it from his girlfriend-"  
  
"Get to the point!"  
  
"I heard Audrena's going to be demolishing Kyle's bedroom, and there's only one other bedroom in the whole base . . ."  
  
"You mean . . ." Scythe's eyes widened and she grinned wildly. "No way!" Troden grinned as well and nodded prankishly.  
  
"That's what I heard!"  
  
" . . . That can't be true! I know for a fact that Audrena wouldn't touch the guy with a ten foot pole, much less sleep with him!"  
  
"That was 5 months ago. They've gotten 'more in-tune' with each other. Just the other day, I caught them having a food fight." Scythe cocked her head to the side, confused and skeptical.  
  
"Why on earth were they having a food fight?"  
  
"Kyle started it. He followed her down to the kitchens, picked up a handful of mashed potatoes and flung it at her. It went on for about an hour; quite entertaining in my point a view. They ended up chasing each other through the base, throwing Jell-O at one other."  
  
"But that's just good natured fun!"  
  
Troden smiled quirkily, twirling an invisible mustache.  
  
"Not while the looooooooooooove doctor is in!"  
  
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Oblivious to Scythe and Troden's little plan; Audrena was sitting in a tree, high up in the branches, looking out at everything. Even after half a year she couldn't quite get why Kyle even cared about her. She had considered the lusting factor, but cancelled that out quickly. After all, he had never tried to approach her like that. Another thing was the money that this place had, but he never asked her for funds or anything. Or perhaps the sheer amount of zoids here, since there was quite a few. But he seemed very happy with his Nitric Fury, and was very grateful to her about all the upgrades she had installed . . .  
  
The sound of a mob below her shook her from her thoughts. Glancing down, she blinked, watching a massive herd of female Genosaurs go tearing through the underbrush, screeching for some 'Lover-Boy' to come back to them. It was only after she heard whimpering below her that she looked down. There was Nitric's hologram and his mechanical body sitting on the same branch, looking shaken and horrified in the same moment. Audrena didn't even feel the branch sway, so large and thick was the redwood bough (yeah, no fertilizer needed either! Take that Scott's Turf Builder! *Blinks* Err . . . -_-' Don't mind me. Just keep reading.).  
  
"Ah, so it was you they were after!" Audrena called, smiling impishly with a wicked glint in her brown eyes. Nitric glanced over and went wide- eyed, guessing her intentions.  
  
"No! Audrena, please don't! Being the quarry in a boy-toy hunt isn't exactly fun you know!" He hissed, not wanting to attract attention to himself. His pursuers were still out there. Audrena's smile changed to an evil sneer.  
  
"OH GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRLS! OVER HERE!" Nitric's midnight blue eyes were as big as dinner plates.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He screeched, turning to leave, but the mob was already under the branch, squealing and jumping for him. The only problem was that the branch he was sitting on was about 20 feet over the head of any of the swarming Genosaurs. Nitric blinked, then grinned, eyeing Audrena with a grateful look.  
  
"I knew this branch was way over their heads from the start, that's why I called them here, so you can taunt them." Nitric blinked.  
  
" . . . I knew that." He said, then glanced back down at the bunch, grinning corruptly. The zoid then started the biggest mocking session since the old earth celebrity roasts. After about 5 minutes, the group became disgusted with the taunting and plodded off, going off to bug and chase another unlucky male. Audrena raised an eyebrow at him playfully.  
  
"You know, I think you and that big green one would make a nice couple." The human burst out laughing at the death glare she got from Nitric. He eventually relaxed and settled back, his eyes twinkling like he knew a secret.  
  
"Bertha? The barkeeper's adopted daughter? Not for me, thank you." He settled back against the trunk with a superior grin and a very fake yawn. "Besides, I've got my eye on an absolutely charming little Liger . . ." He stopped for a moment, thinking a bit. "Ok, she isn't little, because she's almost as big as I am, but still!" He resumed his high-up attitude, smirking at Audrena, who was giving him the most suspicious look he had ever seen.  
  
"Tell me, who is this lucky zoid that's won your fancy?" She said, her voice too sickly sweet. It set off an alarm bell in Nitric's mind, but he continued boldly on anyway.  
  
"You should know her. She's your Liger." Fireworks exploded in Audrena's eyes and the glare she gave the fury almost scared him.  
  
"If you weren't a hologram, I would strange you . . ." She hissed sinisterly. Nitric gulped.  
  
Ok, so maybe dating the base founder's zoid was a bad idea.  
  
He sighed, waiting for the storm. He shut his eyes tightly and leaned away, hunching his shoulders against the expected gale of words. He waited for a while, but none came. Opening an eye cautiously, he then saw why none had come. Audrena was sitting two inches from him, glaring at him with so much venom that he felt as though he had been bitten by cobras and feeling the after effects of the poisons. It was amazing how much she looked like a Saber fang, with her teeth gritted like that.  
  
"Eh-heh," He grinned sheepishly, seriously scared even if he was a zoid. "You have thoroughly excellent teeth."  
  
"DATING MY LIGER ARE YOU?!?" She roared, making the poor hologram cringe. So NOW the hurricane had arrived.  
  
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Blinking, Kyle looked upwards, as did every zoid in the bar floor at that moment, hearing someone being yelled at. The chewing-out session could be heard clearly almost 20 floors down, and every hologram in the place sweatdropped, feeling intense pity for the one on the receiving end. Kyle shook his head, finishing off his glass of Blush. It was pretty good, even after maybe 3000 years. The stuff had been hanging around in its unopened bottle since 1930's on Earth, and it was pretty tart because of it.  
  
"Hey barkeep!" He called, grinning slightly and tossing the empty glass at the hologram's head. 'This'll give the old coot a heads-up.' He though, smirking mischievously with the rims of his eyes gleaming blue as the hologram turned around to see the glass hurtling toward his head. He let out a cry and ducked, but then paused at he didn't see any breaking glass. Looking up, he saw the suspended wine tumbler hanging over his head, and he gave Kyle a very rude look as the other holograms roared in laughter at him.  
  
Barkeep's hologram was of a balding man in his fifties, with snowy white hair and beard, a pot-belly, and strange pink eyes, just the kind of man you'd expect to tend the base's pub. His zoid form was an elephander, but he rarely showed it, preferring his hologram. He used it occasionally; to throw overly stoned zoids who didn't know what 'last call' meant, but otherwise he kept his body out of sight. He was a trickster of a zoid, and would frequently 'spice' drinks with various things. Sometimes catsup, sometimes old engine oil, but usually with human pheromones, which usually drove a human's love-drive depending on how much you added, but made zoids completely insane. So he'd have fun watching various zoids run around with sticks of chewing gum in their nostrils, or hop on one foot around the room and sing the old British national anthem, or attempt to climb the walls like a squirrel with glass jugs in their mouths for nuts.  
  
He had been delighted when Kyle Obscura entered in on the scene, because now he could test his pheromone 'potion'. The only problem was that he had to wait until Audrena and Kyle was far enough into a relationship to properly be able to experiment on specific amounts. Thankfully, he was a patient zoid, and could wait a while. For now, he'd settle with adding old kitchen grease.  
  
"Testing yourself again, Obscura?" He said gruffly, cleaning out the glass with a rag. With special permission from Audrena, he had gained a shield projector with his hologram so that he could clean and keep bar properly. Kyle grinned arrogantly.  
  
"Yep, I've been getting really good with my mental abilities. I've gotten to the point where I can lock in on specific parts of the brain and stimulate or numb them." Barkeep eyed him dryly. He didn't get a word of that.  
  
"Come again?" He drawled crudely. Kyle thought for a while, but the one he first came up with wasn't very appropriate, so he chose to select another part of the brain. He concentrated on not the hologram but the mechanical mind behind it, taking gentle hold over it, his hands radiating a sort of electric blue radiance with concentration.  
  
"Well, it's basically taking control of another person's actions and reactions. Let's say I took over your speech centers. If I numb them," He waved his hand in a sort of sweeping motion, and Barkeep's mouth instantly closed. The other members of the congregation, a Raynos, a Zabat, a Redler, and a Helcat, started sniggering at their server. Kyle grinned widely, thoroughly enjoying this. "You shut up. And if I stimulate them," Kyle's hand made another sweeping motion, this time in the other direction. Barkeep's mouth immediately opened and he began babbling incoherantly without stop. "You never stop verbalizing. Get it?"  
  
"Babadeemoostafu."  
  
"Good!" Kyle raised his right hand and made a fist slowly, releasing the mind he had had control over very gradually as not to cause damage. Barkeep stopped babbling, then whipped the spittle from his face with an embarrassed grin.  
  
"Ah. My old brain understands now."  
  
"You're not old."  
  
"I was one of the prototypes thank you!"  
  
"Alright prototype, you win." He settled back down again, now looking somber and depressed. "Barkeep, give me the strongest stuff you've got behind the counter."  
  
Instant dead silence. No one in this whole time the 20th floor had been in operation had anyone asked for the best they had. All of them shook their heads and went back to their drinks, thinking that Kyle, their biggest hope in taming the wrathful Audrena, had given up on the immense challenge. Kyle blinked, noticing the grave silence of his company, but decided to ignore it. Barkeep stared him as though he was suicidal.  
  
"Are you sure? One shot of this and you'll be having the worst hangover this side of Zi!"  
  
"Then make it a double." Everyone expect Kyle face-vaulted. Now everyone was looking at him as though he was crazy.  
  
"You must be really depressed to ask for the 99 proof." The Helcat purred sympathetically. "You're going to be so drunk you're going to forget your own name." Everyone else nodded in unison. The record for zoid or human was 10 double shots, and that was when Audrena went on a binge because her father had died. They ended up having to treat her in the base's health unit for alcohol poisoning. Barkeep remembered that, and times must be really bad to call for something that strong.  
  
"Yeah," Kyle replied as barkeep poured him the double, staring at him like he was insane. "I just need to be drunk enough not to feel any pain when Audrena kills me when I ask her what I'm about to ask her."  
  
Every zoid in the place winced simultaneously.  
  
"What're you going to ask her that will cause you to drink like this?" The Raynos piped up; looking concerned at his drinking buddy.  
  
"Well, I was going to ask her to-"  
  
"Take you hand?" Someone asked to his left.  
  
"No." Kyle shook his head.  
  
"Marry you?" Another person screeched from the back.  
  
"No way!" He looked quite indignant and thoroughly embarrassed.  
  
"Sleep with you?" Someone suggested from the corner, then he or she hiccuped. Kyle went so red that he looked like a 6-foot grape.  
  
"No!" He shuddered, frightened out of his mind of what would happen if he actually asked Audrena that. "Yeeeesh . . ."  
  
"So what is it?!" Kyle suddenly realized that every zoid in the barroom had circled around him, waiting on his every word.  
  
"Ask her down here for a drink, that's all! And maybe ask her out, but I doubt it. I'd probably get whacked with a armor plate." He sank down to the bar counter, looking miserable. "She'd rather hit me with a two-by-four then speak to me."  
  
"That's why I'm here!" An annoying teen voice from the stool to his left quipped. Troden sat straight up with an impish grin on his zoidian face. He hadn't cared to put up his hologram. Kyle eyed him warily.  
  
"Who do you think you are? An enamoring counselor?" Kyle droned sarcastically, reaching for the glass. Troden was too quick for him. Taking the glass beaker, the zoid downed it in two gulps, oblivious to the wide- eyed stares he was getting from everyone. The shadow fox blinked, looking around at the sudden maniac grins. It was only in the silence did he notice that his internal gears were starting to rumble. Kyle blinked, cocking his head to the side, looking around at everyone. They were all starting intently at the miniaturized zoid, as though waiting for something. The fox's metallic throat suddenly expanded, and Barkeep let out a squeak.  
  
"HIT THE DIRT!" He screeched, hitting the floor along with every other hologram. Kyle blinked, confused.  
  
"But why do we need to-" He was cut off when Troden made a sort of rolling motion with his body and collapsed on the bar counter, letting off a massive belch. That wasn't all he let escape either. Along with the methane came a massive burst of flame, curling up in a mushroom cloud of fire before evaporating. In the process, he had baked the counter top in front of him to a crispy sheen. Everyone got up cautiously after about 5 minutes, peeking out at the scene. Troden gave a weak cough, black and grey ash spewing from his metal snout to land in a small pile in front of him.  
  
" . . . . . . .Ouch . . . . . . ."  
  
"Erm . . . no one told you to drink that, you know." Kyle said in a matter- of-factly voice, poking Troden with a finger. The Shadow Fox eventually snapped out of it, part of his nose slightly melted.  
  
"Remind me never to do that again. Anyway, yes, I am a counselor. And I can help you with this little problem you have!"  
  
"Heh, I don't have any problems." Kyle stated, trying to act rigid. Troden saw right through it.  
  
"Yes you do. I heard the whole conversation." The human glanced at him, irritated. He let out a sigh.  
  
"Fine then." He conceded. "Do your worst. Tell me, what can I do."  
  
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Audrena had long before chewed Nitric out. She had made a very clear point that if he so much as annoyed Scythe in anyway at all, she would literally and personally neuter him. Needless to say, Nitric was much alarmed, and ran off the branch, knocking himself out when he started running in circles and crashed head-first into a tree trunk in his terror of losing his manhood. She quickly left the tree after that, heading towards a park bench, grumbling incoherantly.  
  
She sat down heavily, flopping onto the bench and looking up into the now star-speckled holo-sky. Audrena blinked, surprised.  
  
"Jeez, I've been spouting off for hours? Good god . . . he had better have learned his lesson." The pilot stared up into the starry night sky overhead, naming the various constellations aloft. The whole Town Square was deserted of zoids; the only noise that disturbed the quiet was the sound of the fountain in the center of the circle of benches, much like the one she and Kyle had talked in, only the fountain was much higher and far more elaborate.  
  
'Virgo, Draco, Libra, Hercules . . . wait a second, where's the rest of them?!'  
  
She commended this to the hologram projector controlling the sky hanging over her head. Must be malfunctioning. Even the temperature had dropped from a perfect 75 degrees to about 62 degrees, just a tad bit chilly . . .  
  
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Kyle paused before emerging from the safety of his dark alleyway, staring down at Troden with disbelief.  
  
"Are you sure this'll work?" He whispered fiercely, slightly unbelieving in his 'teacher's tactics.  
  
"Trust me my young padawan," Troden said, trying to sound sagely and Jedi-like. It didn't work very well. "Use the force and you shall prevail!"  
  
"Cut the Star Wars crap Troden!" He hissed, rubbing a temple. The little black shadow fox could see his anxiety.  
  
"Don't worry Kyle, you'll be fine! Remember the fact that she hasn't hit you in the last 6 months!" The human nodded, though that didn't stop his uneasiness. He sighed, sticking his hands in his pockets. Turning, he stepped out into the projected moonlight and tried not run back into the shadows.  
  
"Nice night out huh!" He called as he approached, not wanting to surprise her. Audrena let her head fall over the top rim of the bench, looking at the world behind the bench upside down.  
  
"Isn't it a little late to be out here?" She asked, grinning playfully at him. It was quite amusing to her that Kyle appeared as though he was walking on the ceiling. He chuckled, relieved that she wasn't throwing anything at him.  
  
"Nah," He said, waving it aside with a smile. "Tried to sleep. Couldn't." He sat down on her left side, his grin becoming mischievous. "You know, you're wicked." Audrena grinned crookedly.  
  
"Thanks. I enjoy being called evil." She quipped. Kyle wasn't finished.  
  
"What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you . . ." He recited; it was one of Troden's little tips. It was meant to take Audrena off-guard. It succeeded marvelously. She instantly eyed him warily, her mood gone from light and playful to suspicious and cautious in a matter of seconds.  
  
"What KIND of dreams?" She spat, scooting away from him. Kyle expected this and shrugged.  
  
"Just normal things. You know, laughing together, you not hitting me, being on a team, the occasional kiss, no Kyle-bashing, nothing erotic or anything like that . . . Did I mention no hitting?" Audrena couldn't help but chuckle. That was a small relief.  
  
"Yeah, you mentioned the no hitting thing a couple of times . . . I didn't realize I was so violent . . ." She admitted, sounding guilty. "Sorry about that."  
  
"Don't worry. I still love you." The female pilot sighed heavily, shaking her head.  
  
"You're still keeping that up?" Now Kyle was the one confused.  
  
"I can't lie and say I don't love you." He was quickly becoming frustrated. She still didn't believe him. Audrena blinked and shook her head. He just never got it.  
  
"Ok," She started. "This had been bugging me ever since the Mara incident. Here it is, plain and simple. Why on earth do you love me? I mean, how could you?"  
  
A very long pause came from this.  
  
"I can't really answer that, because a question like that would take to long to respond to." That was an acceptable answer. Audrena shrugged, leaning back again.  
  
"You know," She said, staring up into the holographic stars. "I suddenly feel really ordinary." Kyle blinked, a little surprised. That was odd.  
  
"What do you mean by that? You're certainly not the normal every-day pilot as far as I'm concerned."  
  
"I know . . . but if you think about it, I'm just a normal human being, surrounded by people with extraordinary abilities. I mean, take a look at my family. My mother was incredibly strong, my father had mental powers along with teleportation, and my sister had a combination of both. And you too Kyle, you're not exactly the run-of-the-mill pilot either. You've got not only destructive mental powers, but you can bring people back from the dead!" She sighed, now looking a little downtrodden.  
  
"Me on the other hand, I've got the bad draw in the poker game that is the gene pool. I'm just a normal, boring zoid pilot left to wander the world with nothing I can contribute to it." Her tone was even making Kyle depressed. He decided not to say anything, concerned that he might say something wrong.  
  
"And another thing." She started again. Kyle let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. 'Oh boy, here it comes.'  
  
"Tell me," She said, pulling a handful of something from her pocket. Kyle stared at it suspiciously for a moment before looking back up into her eyes. "Are you allergic to chalk dust?" She didn't wait for him to answer, because she threw the stuff in her hand into his face, making him sputter. Leaping up from her seat before he could grab her, Audrena stuck her tongue out at him, sticking her thumbs in her ears and waggling her fingers at him.  
  
"You look like your face has been painted!" She choked. "That's what you get for throwing mashed potatoes at me!" Kyle stood quickly, wiping his face off with his sleeve before glaring at Audrena playfully, an impish smirk playing about his face. He still had white powder in his hair, making his dark brown hair look grey. Knowing what was coming, Audrena let out a giggling yelp and started running across the fields, Kyle in pursuit with a "You little sneak!".  
  
The chase went on, Kyle shouting playful threats with Audrena only stopping to taunt him back. Things continued for another few minutes until Kyle saw his chance. Taking his odds, he made a flying leap, tackling his target in a lunge that would have made a NFL couch proud. Both of them going to the ground, Audrena attempted to roll and get up again, but found Kyle's body blocking her escape.  
  
Under normal circumstances, she would have hit him into next Tuesday, but a strange serenity came out of this, staring up into Obscura's gray eyes like this. The pair just stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, neither of them really noticing or caring about the normally very embarrassing position. Finally taking a course of action, Kyle supported the back of her head with a gentle hand and kissed her softly, the other hand caressing her jaw line in a very tender motion. The kiss was quite chaste, no tongue included, actually. To Audrena, who had never been kissed in her life, it was quite a shock.  
  
'Wait a second . . . this isn't so bad . . .' In fact, Audrena was actually enjoying this quite a bit, and sank into it greedily. Now it was Kyle's turn to be surprised. He deepened the kiss, still being slightly modest in the approach of it. After breaking contact for breath, he smiled benevolently at her, still running his thumb along her jaw line, soft as silk and warm to the touch.  
  
"I love you . . ." He murmured, staring lovingly into those brown eyes he had come so to care for so much. He saw so much in there. It's why he loved her. She wasn't ditsy and didn't try to act like it; she didn't try to conform to society's idea of what people should be like, she wasn't soft-spoken, she never held her tongue, she had a passion for life, something he couldn't find anywhere else . . .  
  
And the fact that Audrena was all but drop-dead gorgeous helped things along too.  
  
There seemed nothing that could break this moment. It was too perfect. Audrena paused before making her reply, trying to understand the current emotion in her brain. Was it love? Could it be love? With an internal smile, she put that aside for later. What ever it was, she was loving every second of it.  
  
"I know . . ." She whispered back, insinuating another kiss that was nowhere near as modest. Though the affections that evening went no further then kissing, the two quickly became detached from their surroundings, lost in the small bit of heaven they had created . . .  
  
And back in the shadows of the buildings, Troden watched the procession of events, giggling childishly.  
  
"Yes!" He screeched, jumping around in his joy. "Kyle shoots, Kyle scores! Whoo!"  
  
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A pair of purple eyes pulled themselves into a smirk, the man's curly black hair not even moving as he nodded slowly. Leaning back, he sank further into the old leather chair, still gazing at the screen he was watching with a malevolent fondness.  
  
"Two for the price of one?" Malone asked to no one in particular, his youthful 29-year-old face melting fluidly into a crafty grin as he watched Kyle and Audrena out on the second floor from the comfort of his own home. "Excellent, a questionable psychic and a half-saiyan who hasn't even discovered either of the abilities she has. Each a power house of mental and physical energies . . . I'll never go hungry again."  
  
Malone gave a low chuckle, his grin revealing two massive and razor sharp canines. "But what can I say? The more the merrier." He said, tilting his head up to look at a mammoth crystal chandelier, each of the little quartz pieces reflecting the light of a hundred candles. But on closer examination, human forms could be seen through the frosted crystal, all appearing dormant while standing upright, head bowed as though in defeat. Each one of the millions of quartz pieces held a figure, all except two . . .  
  
He glanced back at the screen before turning the hologram projector off and getting out of the ancient leather chair, smirking slightly. His spy had done his job well, and no one suspected the little Shadow fox.  
  
"Good work, my dear Troden . . ."  
  
As he walked through the medieval settings he called home, he passed the countless treasures that lined his halls. The Mona Lisa, Muhammad Ali's favorite boxing gloves, Julius Caesar's gold olive branch crown, Bill Clinton's impeachment form, the original manuscript of War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, three suits of armor from Queen Elisabeth's time, the spear head that supposedly pierced Jesus Christ's flesh when he was crucified, a piece of the U.S.S. Arizona, the list went on and on. He stopped though, at one particular painting, staring up at it with remembered respect and reverence. This one he didn't have to hijack during the eons that he had been alive, he had been given this one by the very man that was featured in the painting.  
  
Adolph Hitler was the centerpiece of the painting, standing to his full height and decorated with what looked like every metal and award on the planet. His toothbrush mustache was perfectly combed, his hair was impeccably parted and brushed, his uniform was crease-less and perfectly ironed, and behind him was current German flag of the time, featuring the swastika and black eagle. The artist had tried to make him look like some kind of modern god, but to those who knew what that evil man had done, he was anything but godly.  
  
Malone stared up at it, his smirk melting away. Royal purple eyes drifting to the right corner, there was a small message written in German. When translated, it said:  
  
'To my favorite of the Hitler Youths, I hope that you continue to make me proud. Long live the 10th Reich! Signed, Fuerer Adolph.'  
  
An unconscious hand fingered the ancient German Cross that hung on his old uniform, which he still wore and still hadn't outgrown. After all, when one is bitten at the prime of your life, you don't grow very much.  
  
Malone sighed, reaching out to touch the old redwood frame; the brass inlaid into the wood having long before faded with age. He stoked the chassis, going down into his eon's worth of memories, spiraling back to times most had forgotten . . .  
  
Hanging his head, he turned and stalked down his hallway, reminiscences of his past still circulating in his brain. The ancient man still had a card up his sleeve. Now his mind turned back to the images of Kyle and Audrena sharing affection, those two energies Malone desperately needed to survive. Blood wasn't enough anymore. Now he needed life forces.  
  
"Soon . . . soon . . ."  
  
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- *Gulps* Troden's a traitor?! What a little zoidian Benedict Arnold! Uh oh . . . who's this guy?! Find out in chapter 9, Energy Sucker. By the way, I am asking the reader. Should I throw in a chapter of lemon into this? You decide. Anyway, I'll see what this Malone character is up to. *Grabs mallet* 


	9. Rambuncious Zoids and Strange Welcomes

*rubs hands together* Alright then! That kissing scene in the last chapter was about as close to a lemon as I'm going to get without a specific request. I regretfully admit that I could have gotten quite a bit more detailed with that whole scene, but decided to spare the reader from gruesome details. Blame the countless Stephen King (Go King and his frightening stuff! Whoo!) Books. Anyway, just start reading. This chapter will make you feel extreme pity for the characters in it. Just so you know, I ish going to use names from various other anime and cartoon series. I don't own any of them! Heck, I don't even own Kyle Obscura or Nitric Fury! They belong to someone else who I will not name for their sake, so there. Anyway, here's Strange Welcoming . . . I think . . .  
  
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After that little encounter out on the second floor, the pair, now officially calling themselves a couple, stayed away from each other, sort of bashful about the past events. While those two were trying their best not to speak with each other about 'that' topic, the whole base was a-buzz with the newest news. They kept trying to drag the humans to the side to ask what exactly 'the kiss' felt like and to go into very gory detail. Needless to say, the two pilots were a little reluctant to tell such things. But things were starting to get a little constrained between the two, especially about their favorite zoids. Unaware of their pilot's affectionate actions, Nitric and Scythe had gone out and done something not exactly kosher with Audrena. They had run off on the same night of Kyle and Audrena's little encounter on the second floor, and the effects weren't quite apparent.  
  
Not until Scythe started to have a zoid's version of morning sickness about 6 hours after the two zoids had mysteriously disappeared for a night, and then it became really obvious of what had happened . . .  
  
"YOU WHAT?!?!?!" Audrena shrieked, causing everyone from the 60th floor up to glance up towards the origin of the sound. Scythe cringed, looking down at the puddle of unusable gears, machine oil, and French fires at her feet.  
  
Meanwhile, Nitric, hearing the screech, gulped visibly, his hologram going pale and his zoidian eyes going dinner plate wide. Kyle glanced over at his zoid, oblivious to what Nitric and Scythe had done, glanced at his zoid with extreme pity.  
  
"Now you guys have done it." Nitric whimpered like a frightened puppy.  
  
"Can you come with me?" The zoid whined, looking ready to wet himself, even though machines had no urinary tracts. "I'm scared." Kyle rolled his eyes and nodded, accompanying him into the elevator a half-eaten apple in his hand.  
  
"Don't expect me to take any blows for you though. She's got a pretty good punch."  
  
"Got it . . ." Though on his way up, Nitric knew what he was about to get brandished for.  
  
'Oh god, she found out . . . ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod . . .'  
  
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Audrena was waiting for them up on the hangar floor, the one open to the elements and visible from the outside, her face twisted into a smile. The look in her eyes though, it scared both zoid and his pilot. Not even with Mara had Kyle seen such a look of pure loathing, and Nitric just about fainted on the spot right then and there. Kyle quickly got out of the way, taking a chunk out of the apple and chewing it slowly, his zoid following him fearfully, trying to hide behind him. It didn't work.  
  
"Nitric?" Audrena called, her voice too sickeningly sweet. Nitric knew that tone very well, and he gulped. Lying down behind her was an extremely depressed looking Scythe, white armor having lost its lustrous sheen. Nitric shuddered.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Tell me," She started, her forced smile quickly disappearing. "What did you two do three nights ago? And did you have fun? I sure hope you did, AND I HOPE THAT YOUR PROUD OF YOURSELF, RUINING BOTH YOU AND SCYTHE'S FUTURES! BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR LITTLE FUN FILLED NIGHT, SCYTHE WILL BE OUT OF THE BATTLES FOR THE NEXT 3 MONTHS FOR FEAR OF LOSING YOUR CHILD!!!"  
  
Instant silence. The piece of apple Kyle had been chewing on dropped from his mouth, landing in a fairly intact chunk of apple on the floor with a flat splat from Kyle's open jaw. Both pilot and zoid said the same phrase in the same moment.  
  
"SCYTHE'S PREGNANT?!" Everyone in the hanger except for the bickering foursome face-vaulted, either that or fainted dead away.  
  
"You didn't . . ." Kyle breathed in a tone of disbelief, but Nitric wasn't listening. He was too busy being shocked and dubious, trying to deny it in his head. Audrena continued to glare at him. Scythe continued to look dejected.  
  
"I . . . actually impregnated Scythe? No way . . . impossible . . ." Nitric kept muttering to himself, sounding shaky and miserable. Audrena calmed down a little bit in a small amount of pity, shaking her head and sighing heavily.  
  
"When two zoids make love, it is a guaranteed thing that the female of the pair will indeed be become parturient. I designed it that way; to make you guys THINK before you ACTED. But apparently, no one THOUGHT before they COMMITTED THE ACT, now did they?" Kyle thought for a moment. Yeah, that kind of makes sense . . . He turned his head slowly up to Nitric, eyeing him for a moment.  
  
Couldn't think to use a condom, buddy? He said, his mind doing the talking. Audrena turned her gaze to him for a moment before shaking her head, her anger starting to evaporate. His aura of innocence again, it made her calm and patient despite herself.  
  
"Sorry Kyle, it isn't possible to create a zoid contraceptive, not in the way I've designed it at least." She stated, taking him off guard.  
  
'She heard me? I wasn't even addressing the message to her!' Kyle continued to stare at her, trying to understand. Audrena blinked, pondering suspiciously about why he was staring at her. 'Oh god, so she did inherit her own brand of abilities . . . I better start watching my thoughts . . .' He grinned at her, even if she wasn't even looking at him. 'I guess no more private admiration and complimenting anymore . . . otherwise she'd probably kick me.'  
  
Nitric shook his head, then marched off to the elevator. "I need to think . . ." He said pathetically as he entered the elevator, heading to the 20th floor . . .  
  
Audrena squatted next to Scythe's head, looking at her zoid with a mixture of disappointment and sad acceptance.  
  
"Well, I'll tell you what. I can make you abort this k-"  
  
"NO!" Scythe cried, standing up and baring her fangs, the canines even longer then that of the Audreniliger's. The liger growled viciously, glaring down with previously blue eyes, now deeply red. Her pilot stared back nonchalantly, unafraid. She didn't think Scythe would have the guts to hurt her own pilot.  
  
Then again, she had never dealt with a pregnant zoid before.  
  
"I'm going to keep it, and no one's going to tell me differently." Scythe hissed, her tail blades sparking ominously. Audrena shook her head and chuckled.  
  
"No one's telling you to terminate it," She glanced at the massive blade that was flying by, dangerously close to her head. Audrena blinked at it with a look of boredom. "And I pity anyone who tells you differently."  
  
Kyle let out a sigh of relief as Scythe lowered her tail, blinking serenely down at her pilot.  
  
"Oh. Ok!" Audrena rolled her eyes in annoyance. Mood swings, just absolutely wonderful . . .  
  
-  
  
-  
  
Barkeep glanced up at Nitric as he entered the floor, maneuvered his body into the designated area, and switched on his despondent looking hologram. The barkeeper blinked, wondering whom this guy was. He wasn't exactly a regular down here. Those guys were always here . . .  
  
Nitric sat himself down with a heavy sigh, putting his forehead on the counter top, smelling burnt plastic from the charred spot Troden had belched on, but not really caring. His head was spinning from the recent information that had been pored into his brain.  
  
"Something strong." He mumbled through his arms. Barkeep nodded.  
  
"Female trouble?"  
  
"Yeah . . ."  
  
"Let me guess," Barkeep theorized, setting the glass of Irish whisky in front of Nitric. "Not ready for commitment?"  
  
"Too late," Nitric muttered, swinging the whole shot back. "I got her pregnant." Barkeep whistled sympathetically, slightly surprised.  
  
"Whoo . . . under normal circumstances, I would be congratulating you, but since you seem so depressed about it . . ."  
  
"Oh, it's not that. I don't mind being a father, it's just that Audrena went psycho on me."  
  
"Ooooh . . ."  
  
"Scythe and I were just hoping that this would bring our pilots closer . . . since the whole base is counting on us to help Kyle tame her in any way he can . . . I didn't know it was a one-shot thing . . ." Barkeep eyed him as though he had 7 heads.  
  
"Well, I guess you didn't stick around to hear about the little 'couple'." Nitric raised his head in a snap, wide-eyed as well.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Yep. Those two up on the second floor, they were acting like an engaged couple will all that osculating! Whoo!" With each word, a both horrified and wicked grin spread across his face. "I have cameras everywhere! Even in Audrena's bedroom!" Every hologram turned to stare at him with a That's- disgusting look. He blinked, then shook his head. Dirty minded ruffians. He was just waiting for the day to come when he could finally see the full effects of 10 ounces of pheromones on two humans . . .  
  
"Man, Audrena's going to kill you . . . but you'll have to excuse me for a moment . . ." He smirked, the hologram disappearing . . .  
  
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Kyle scratched his head, information overwhelming his brain. Thinking about it made things worse. Part of him was disappointed, part of him happy that his zoid was about to become a father, and the rest of him sort of depressed that he'd have to learn how to play peek-a-boo with something about three times his size. After all, knowing Nitric, he would probably name Kyle as the child's uncle or something along those lines . . . He also kind of felt sorry for Scythe, and was reeeeeaaaaally glad that he wasn't the one Audrena was so angry at.  
  
Hearing the elevator doors open, he turned and smiled cheerfully at Nitric.  
  
"How's the father to be!" He called, smiling warmly, but it quickly melted off as Nitric muttered something in his ear as he passed by:  
  
"How's Audrena? Tell me that will you? After all, you seem to be the authority on that subject." Kyle's eyes went wide and he stared at his zoid's hologram with a look of growing shock. Where did that come from?  
  
Nitric grinned at wickedly at Audrena, who stared just as coldly back.  
  
"So, have fun last night?" Audrena stopped the livid red tinge before it could spread out. It wasn't the words that stung; it was the tone. She recoiled quickly, starting up with a sharp comeback.  
  
"I bet YOU did. Did you enjoy taking my liger's innocence? Her peace of mind?" Nitric growled threateningly. The human was unfazed, still glaring coldly at him.  
  
"Audrena," He hissed, glaring at her with hatred that wasn't normally a part of him. Sudden mental strain will do that to you. "You are SUCH a hypocrite!"  
  
"Stop it you two." Kyle commanded, trying to come between them. "You're bickering like children!" The both of them ignored him.  
  
"A hypocrite eh? You're one to talk. Finally proven yourself as a male? You make me want to spit!"  
  
"That's it! I don't have to take this! Kyle and I have lived on our own before, and we can do it again!" With that, Nitric's hologram disappeared and his zoidian body thundered forward, bending low for Kyle to climb in. His pilot was having a moral dilemma though . . .  
  
His gaze kept going between Audrena and Nitric. Trying to decide whom he was going to betray was a little heavy on his shoulders. He had known Nitric for so much longer then he knew Audrena . . .  
  
He fixed Audrena with an apologetic look, appearing truly downhearted that he had to leave, but he climbed in anyway. Nitric, feeling that he had just scored a victory against Audrena smirked as he turned and walked out, having pushed Scythe to the back of his mind.  
  
Kyle looked back one last time, shutting his eyes for a moment against that look Audrena was giving him. A mixture of anger, hatred, indignation . . . the last additive to the cocktail hurt him the most though. It was a cold I- told-you-so look. In a vain attempt to redeem himself, he sent her a last mental message . . .  
  
Audrena was left on the hanger floor, standing in the sand that had blown in, staring after them. A sudden sinking feeling hit her stomach and her heart froze to a hunk of ice. Mara had been right; everyone was right about how her life was going to go. There was no stable rock she could hang onto. Only a life of cold and heartbreak lay ahead of her.  
  
She received Kyle's telepathic message with a snort; shutting her eyes and letting her head drop as she shut the doors of the top floor hangar, the disappearing light just quick enough to reflect the single lonely tear that fell to the floor.  
  
"You love me?" She spat, almost as if the word had no meaning. She paused before finishing, raising her now tearless head and heading down the darkened stairwell. Scythe watched her go; slightly amazed that Kyle's decision had actually caused her to cry. 'Wow . . .'  
  
"No. You don't."  
  
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Malone's purple eyes sparkled with childish glee and chuckling a little. He had seen the whole argument, scanned through Troden's eyes. This was all working to his advantage! They would be easier to round up when they were apart! All he had to do now was wait for the perfect moment to strike . . .  
  
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One month passed, a single month, and Kyle was in full-blown depression. The zoid and pilot pair had wandered about the various cities and colonies, stopping occasionally for rest and food. You had to have been blind, deaf, and completely ignorant to not see that the human of the two was suffering. Nitric maintained that he was better off without Audrena, and that she would only get him killed eventually. Kyle had always nodded, seeing the logic of it, and always conceded to the nomadic life style, but his mind was always off somewhere else.  
  
The human had also started to have nightmares, intense and horrible nightmares. He now couldn't get more then two hours of sleep at a time because of them. Kyle would often startle Nitric out of his sleep mode with the sudden yelps that kept breaking the silence. Kyle was quickly trying to avoid sleep, taking caffeine pills and downing cup after cup of coffee in order to keep awake (remind you of a certain Homicidal Maniac? Heh, don't worry, Kyle isn't going to start killing people. Keep reading please.)  
  
*Dream/Nightmare*  
  
It was the same every time, and yet every time, it succeeded in scaring the living daylights from him.  
  
Kyle would feel somehow cramped, as though his entire 6'3" frame had been sealed inside a pickle jar. Trying to raise his head would only encountered a hazy sort of pain, the kind that comes from anesthesia, when you know it should hurt a whole lot more then it currently is. Thinking that there was a low ceiling, he would try to bend his knees, but they too were locked in place in this strange frosty prison. Kyle, starting to panic, would try to move his hands but they too were secured in their place. Now in a complete frenzy, he would use his mental powers to try and chip at the stone, but it would barely bend to his will. Slivers of icy rock would fall into a small crust around his hands, cutting and poking his locked fingers. He would try to struggle, but never to any avail. Since the only thing he could move was his eyes, he would turn them left and right, trying to see out of the rocky prison that held him completely captive.  
  
Sometimes he would see unfamiliar figures in the cases around him, their form and details barely visible through the ice-like rock. A red-haired samurai, a young teen with a pyramid pendant around his neck, another teen with black hair and a red vest with little red and white balls on his belt, a female adolescent with purple colored hair and a skull pendant and clutching some sort of small video game. Others were stranger. A man with white hair and strange dog-ears, a young girl with a strange winged pink rod in her hands, a whole set of teenagers with strange devises on their belts. A few he could recognize from history occasionally appeared. Tony Blair, Winston Churchill, Richard Nixon, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln, Joseph Stalin, William Shakespeare, Saddam Hussein, Freddie Mercury, Steven Spielburg, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, great men and women from ancient times. Right then, he always got the feeling that every one of these people had something in common.  
  
The worst part of the nightmare always began after Kyle saw the many historical figures. As the chandelier turned, another shadowy figure would come into view, in the crystal right next to his. Audrena's hair was much longer then it used to be, right at the middle of her back, and her eyes were always shut in quiet defeat, her hands clasped in front of her. It was then Kyle would start struggling ferociously. He hated to see her like that, submissive and subdued. But, something would always lead his attention away from her . . .  
  
All he would see would usually be a pair of intense purple eyes, the corners curling in a brutal smirk as he stared at his prey. One of those eyes would usually be the size of an Olympic swimming pool apiece, and he could sometimes catch a small hint of curly black hair. The thing that always scared him was the laugh, this low pitched chuckle that sent chills up his spine and made him with he had something to hug. That laugh always signaled the start of that strange depleting feeling, as though he was being drained. Barely able to keep his eyes open from the drain, he would barely be able to see the massive eyes start to morph. They would become reptilian and a deep shape of red; the hair would disappear and be replaced by a thick set of rolling black scales and horns.  
  
Everything would immediately jump to black, and all would be grave quiet for what seemed like the longest while, until that strangely human clawed and scaled hand would come flying out of the darkness at him, reaching for him. And all the while, the same chuckling voice would echo:  
  
"Soon . . . Soon . . ."  
  
*End Dream/Nightmare*  
  
Kyle sat straight up in his bed, cold sweat drenching his brow as he tried to fight off the thing in his mind with flailing hands. After a moment though, he found out that he was back in reality again and took his face into his palms, panting heavily while wiping his face free of moisture. He glanced at the small cockpit clock; the glowing green digital numbers the only light in the darkened space. He shook his head and sighed, reading 2:54 am.  
  
"Dear god . . . what on earth is wrong with me?" He whispered to himself, staring out of the glass into the gloomy star-speckled sky overhead. Despite himself and his lack of shut-eye, Kyle couldn't sleep anymore. His mind was again off in wonderland, wishing he were back 'home', the only place other then Nitric's cockpit that he considered a 'home' . . .  
  
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Nitric immediately knew that Kyle hadn't gotten any sleep when the zoid came out of sleep mode the next morning. He could see just how exhausted his pilot was getting, and it was getting to his judgement. The zoid was also starting to reconsider his methods. He had forgotten why he had left in the first place. Besides, he missed Scythe a little bit. Nitric also knew that Kyle was in the grips of depression from his distancing away from 'home', and that he would get a better night's sleep if he was under Audrena's roof. Nitric didn't know why, things just always worked out that way . . . somehow.  
  
He approached his pilot as he nearly passed out at a small café table; the same one Kyle had stopped at before they had even fought Audrena and the Audreniliger for the first time. The rumbling footsteps kept Kyle awake as Nitric approached.  
  
"Err, Kyle? I was wondering . . . since our travel path would be swinging close to the Void base, I figured we could visit if that was ok with you."  
  
Kyle's eyes lit up, and he didn't look as though he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in the last month. On the contrary, he looked as though he could bounce. He smiled, the muscles in his mouth not wanting to work cooperatively.  
  
"We're going home?" He asked, his voice eager and child-like. Nitric blinked, then let a ghost of a smile creep across his features.  
  
"Yeah, we're going home."  
  
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"Kyle! Stop that, you're going to strain my speed thrusters!" Nitric couldn't even see his feet anymore, he was moving so fast. His pilot had pushed him to the limits of his velocity, including with the speed thrusters, and he could probably beat the Liger 0 Yager in a foot race at the pace he was going. Nitric shook his head through the small video screen that was normally used for com-link communication. His hologram had shown up instead, looking at his pilot with a mixture of skepticism and mild surprise.  
  
"Kyle?" He droned. "Hello? You in there? You can slow down now. If I keep going at this pace, my joints will start to overheat." Nitric blinked, then waved his hands around when his pilot didn't seem to hear him. "Hello! Zi to Kyle Obscura! Slow down before I trip over myself!"  
  
Kyle snapped out of his daze and pulled back a little on the controls. Nitric eyed him dryly.  
  
"We slowed down a measly 12 mph." Nitric remarked. "In a hurry are we?" Kyle didn't reply. He had made the normally 10-day trip in an hour and a half, and he could see the base coming into view, a welcome sight to his sore eyes. He allowed himself a smile. No more wandering! No more sleepless nights! And hopefully, no more nightmares! Soon, he'd be back with Audrena and Troden and the gang. He could image it. Kyle started to let himself daydream, leaning on the controls and forcing Nitric back into his fervent pace.  
  
He could see himself jumping down from Nitric's cockpit and running into the base to the happy gazes of every zoid that he had come to know in his stay. Audrena would be in the hanger, working on some zoid as always, adding updates or something. He could easily see himself wrapping Audrena in a massive embrace, then being given a sweet kiss by the overjoyed pilot and welcoming him home . . .  
  
Then his normally thinking mind kicked in and a much more accurately done picture came in, nowhere near as romantic. Every zoid glaring at him evilly as he and Nitric rumbled in, not speaking to him at all as he went to go look around for Audrena. The working on a zoid thing was still there, but no hug and kiss. Just one hell of an angry glare and a jaw-breaking right hook, dropping him to the floor . . .  
  
He hadn't considered that part. About how angry Audrena would be about him leaving . . .  
  
'Uh oh.'  
  
Kyle pulled back sharply on the controls, causing Nitric to backtrack to a halt. The hologram could have killed Kyle with the immense glare he was giving his pilot.  
  
"So NOW you slow down! When we're a half-mile from the base! Great piloting, genius!" He then noticed how pale his pilot had gotten, and the zoid's brain made the connection.  
  
"Ooooh . . . just remembered that Audrena's mad at you?" Nitric shrugged. "You'll live. Now let's keep going."  
  
His pilot nodded, regaining his composure but letting Nitric do the walking.  
  
The two continued travelling for about 5 minutes before Kyle went pale again, only this time with a slight green tinge. Feeling incredibly nauseous, he reeled back into his seat, trying to keep his lunch down. Headaches began to rack his mind, going half-lidded as something reminiscent of a hundred different conversations started racking his brain all at once, the various words and sentences overlapping themselves in ways no sane man could comprehend and the sound of them stretched and warped. Nitric paused, and his metallic features flexed in disquiet.  
  
"Kyle? You ok?" Kyle continued to spaz, his strange actions now accompanied by wheezing and squeaking noises. His brain was being over-loaded with the mass amounts of information, and that was almost impossible to do with his intellect. Now thoroughly concerned, the hologram Nitric started shouting.  
  
"KYLE! ARE YOU STILL IN THERE?!" All at once, his pilot's strange convulsions stopped, leaving him panting and his sanity in reboot mode. Now that his pilot wasn't spazzing anymore, Nitric could turn his attention to the world around him. Glancing absentmindedly in front of him, he went wide- eyed and roared in alarm, almost tripping over himself in backing away.  
  
Audrena was levitating two inches above his nose, her arms crossed and the rims of her eyes gleaming a faint lavender color. She had changed quite a bit in the month that they were gone. She looked like a shell of her former self. Her golden brown hair was now hanging at her waist, uncanny sapphire blue ringlets tying sections of it into 8 strange tail-like segments. Her normally pale face was haggard and tough; her eyes having lost that playful glimmer that they had held even before Audrena had met Kyle and his zoid.  
  
And the fact that she was floating didn't help matters very much either.  
  
"Who are you, and what business do you have with the Void team." She stated curtly, sounding much like her sister, only not quite as high-pitched. Both Kyle and Nitric gulped, really wanting to run right then and there. Kyle blinked through the haze covering his recovering vision, and smiled weakly, his mind still numb.  
  
"Audrena . . .?" He called, looking through the glass at his former friend with a hopeful gaze. He blinked, not really recognizing the woman he once knew. "What's happened to you?" Audrena returned his gaze coldly.  
  
"What of you know of my name?" She spat, not appearing to recognize him. "You're trespassing, and if you do not purge yourselves from here, I will be forced to remove you myself." The tones clicked through Kyle's mind like a puppy that's been kicked too much, dragging itself along. 'What's wrong with her? Doesn't she know us, who we are?'  
  
"Audrena, don't you recognize me? It's me . . . Kyle Obscura . . . and Nitric Fury . . ." He murmured unbelieving, still not getting it. His zoid did though. Audrena paused, then disappeared from Nitric's nose. Silence permeated the area, along with a sense of foreboding. Kyle paused, then stared at his screen at Nitric's holo-figure.  
  
"What's wrong with her? Can she identify us?" Nitric didn't answer and disappeared from the screen. Seconds later, rumbling footsteps told of something massive approaching, the sound of them telling that what ever it was was four legged. It continued, seeming to get closer, but the radar couldn't pick anything up, nor did the heat sensors or the spectrum scope. Even plain sight couldn't pick anything up. Fear and apprehension began to rise in Nitric's mind, and the hairs on the back of Kyle's neck began to rise. Even Helcats didn't have that proficient of a cloaking devise . . .  
  
A sudden bombardment pounded on the Nitric Fury's armor, rocking the zoid almost to the point of knocking it over. Nitric roared and stumbling to his feet. He pulled his shield up as quickly as he could while the com-link opened up, but no picture came. Kyle stared at it as he recognized the format, his eyes going wide. Just a dark green screen, with electric green text . . .  
  
His eyes began to sting as he read the message and hung his head, still clutching the controls feebly and Nitric continued to try and blast whatever was attacking him with the Hybrid Cannon attached to his tail, only succeeding in draining himself. A tear fell to the cockpit floor, another following it. It had finally clicked in Kyle's brain when he received that message, complete with the skull and cross bones beneath it.  
  
"I know no Kyle Obscura."  
  
He shut his eyes tightly, stemming the flow of teardrops as they came. No more fell as Kyle lifted his head, nodding once as he cleared his screen. Only when he had come back to reality had he realized what had happened. Nitric was on his side, smoking and sparking and on the verge of freezing completely, completely wasted of energy. Kyle sighed, though his attention was caught by something appearing on the battlefield. Nitric went wide-eyed and blinked, his hologram appearing.  
  
"My god Scythe, what's happened to you . . .?" He breathed, staring at his bygone lover.  
  
Scythe appeared on the battlegrounds like an evil magic trick, a truly intimidating sight to anyone who had never set eyes on her new form. Her eyes were still blue, as always, and she was still a liger, and her front canines were still massive, but that's as far and the similarities went. Her armor was pitch black; every bit of her was black. Her claws were a deep purple, and so was every one of her blades, each of those now serrated and twisted. The massive blade on her tail had a large groove in it, much like a blood channel, and was half the size of the zoid herself. Thick metal chains wrapped around much of her body, around her legs, and circling her head in an almost restrictive motion. Something on either side of her shoulders seemed to be restricted in movement until they gave a mammoth heave and broke loose of their bonds. A distorted pair of massive ailerons broke loose and spread out, each stretching out to it's full size, each one easily able to envelope the zoid it was attached to. It let out a massive roar that sounded as though it echoed from the depths of hell itself, the metal links straining and clinking together in a macabre rumble, almost reverberating the bellow into an almost ungodly sound. The liger that used to be Scythe seemed to smirk at them both, and her hologram appeared. Everything was the same, except for her clothing was completely black, the demon wings were a change, and her hands were chained to her front. Her belly was a tad bit swollen as well, marking the child's progress. That seemed to be the last thing on the female zoid's mind at the moment though.  
  
"Kyle and Nitric, say hello to the Wraith Liger." Her pilot stated, teleporting out of the cockpit to the ground below. She had developed her newfound skills quite a bit, and she was starting to get creative with her limited range. Kyle and Nitric gulped, and Wraith stayed silent, enjoying the moment. Those two looked ready to run as fast as they possibly could in the other direction.  
  
"Hello." They both said meekly. Following Audrena's example, Kyle also exited his cockpit. Now with a fully clear mind, he could see the full extent of Audrena's changes, and a wave of guilt swept over him. She appeared cold and indifferent, quite different then the Audrena he had come to know. Everything had changed in just one little month; he had though that his problems would end as soon as he came back.  
  
It couldn't be farther from the truth.  
  
The two zoid holograms just stared at each other for a moment before Nitric looked at his pilot with a 'We-really-did-this?' gaze. Kyle, for the first time in his life, glared at his zoid.  
  
I told you we shouldn't have left. The human then turned his attention back to Audrena, who was still grinning at him sadistically.  
  
"Now, if you two wouldn't mind going back to your cockpit, we can finish eliminating you." She declared, Wraith nodding once in agreement. Both Kyle and Nitric sweatdropped.  
  
"Audrena! Hold it!" Kyle voiced, fighting his panic. She was going to kill them both?! Not on his watch!  
  
"I know we must've hurt you both when we left, but that's no reason to kill us!" He sighed, pausing before continuing. "Audrena, I love you, and nothing can change that." Nitric, catching the idea, also spoke.  
  
"Scythe, Wraith, Audreniliger, whomever you are, nothing has changed because of my biggest act of stupidity on the face of Zi. Whoever you are, it doesn't matter, and I trust you as much as I care for you. So I know that you're not going to blast me into oblivion, no matter what. But if you truly hate me that much,"  
  
"Then I can understand why." Kyle finished. The two of them stared at Wraith and Audrena, slightly doubtful if that speech was going to work on these warped individuals . . .  
  
Suddenly, Audrena snorted, her glare cracking into a slight grin as she snorted again, like she was holding back a fit of laughter. Wraith then burst into a spasm of chortling, stumbling about in her mirth as Audrena cracked up as well. Kyle and Nitric blinked and sweatdropped three times apiece.  
  
'Wonderful, they ARE going to kill us.' They both were expecting the worst when the both of the females disappeared. Though, they didn't expect what was coming next despite the fact that they considered themselves ready for anything.  
  
Wraith's hologram appeared directly in front of Nitric and pulled him down to her height and into a mighty hug, being about a head shorter then him but nonetheless knocking the wind out of him. Audrena appeared beside Kyle, slipped her hand into his, and teleported them both to the base hangar, leaving the two zoids alone. Audrena immediately broke her contact with him and Kyle blinked, confused.  
  
"What was that for? I thought you were going to kill us!" Audrena found this amusing and chuckled.  
  
"Fooled you, didn't we?"  
  
"Fooled me?! I was wishing I had written out a will!" Another chuckle. Kyle continued to stare at her, an eyebrow raised.  
  
"It was your punishment for leaving in the first place. We had to make you pay one way or another. I didn't want to kill you, and Wraith didn't want me to castrate either of you." Kyle shuddered, resisting the urge to clench his thighs together to protect himself.  
  
"You know, you scare me. Neutering? Yeesh . . ." Audrena shrugged.  
  
"I threatened it on Nitric if he hurt Scythe in anyway, shape, or form."  
  
Kyle shook his head, smiling. "Scaring us to death just to make sure we didn't run off again . . ." His smile became mischievous. He grabbed her around the waist in a sudden motion, pulling her to him gently.  
  
"You little sneak." He said, kissing her before she could reply. He had wanted to do that for a while now, and Audrena could tell with the intensity of it.  
  
All the while, Troden watched, his eyes glinting oddly . . .  
  
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Yay! End delusion! Sorry about not getting the attack in, but I promise it in the next chapter! I had to build things up, you know, the 'rainbow period'. I had to put it in. But yes, Malone ish gonna making his debut into the story in the next chapter, which I promise is going to be very long, Birth and Death. Hope to see you then! *Leaves severely battered Malone to curl up and die after beating him half to death with wooden mallet* 


	10. Births and Betrayls

Hello everyone! I'm sort of amazed that I have actually been able to get to the 10th chapter. I ish so proud of myself! *Grins* well, anyway, thanks for the reviews of my pitiful story, even if there are only ten reviews *sniffs*. Well, anyway, read on. I put a lot of effort into crafting and molding Malone into the perfect villain, just like I had taken a tedious bit of time creating Mara. She turned out to be someone you wanted to spit at, and I've attempted to make this Hitler wannabe about 100 times worse . . . Anyway, read on. Here it comes, Births and Proposals, I do believe . . . Maybe not. I think I'll drag things out a little bit longer just because. After all, it's not every day these characters get a break from the constant misery I put them through. But then again, you never know with me . . . Hehehehe . . .  
  
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Glancing at a calendar, Audrena blinked, doing a double take. 'Wonderful, just absolutely wonderful. Wraith's due today.' Kyle paused as he passed her, then backed up a little, cocking his head to the side as he looked at the schedule.  
  
"It's June already?" He asked, not seeing the little red circle that was smack dab in the middle of the whole month. Audrena glanced over her shoulder and resisted the urge to hit him. She did that yesterday, which ended up turning into a wrestling match. Kyle won, much to Audrena's denial, so she ended up smushing a banana in his hair for her personal vengeance.  
  
"Yeah, it's June. Two months in a blur eh?" A memory clicked in Kyle's mind as he approached the calendar, staring up at the circled date.  
  
"Should we be expecting any new zoids soon?" Audrena nodded up at him, being about three inches shorter then he was.  
  
"Yup. Expect mass chaos today if the kid actually comes. We've never had a zoid childbearing here before."  
  
"Come to think of it," Kyle started slowly, thinking a bit. "I don't think there's been one anywhere before this." He paused again before continuing.  
  
"You know, this new zoid's going to need a pilot." Audrena blinked, then turned to him slowly, an eyebrow raised.  
  
"Yeah . . . what of it?"  
  
"Well, I know that Nitric would kill me if I ever suggested selling the child, so that leaves only one other option . . ." He smiled sheepishly, and Audrena's eyes went wide.  
  
"No way am I doing that! Besides, I don't have the equipment!" Kyle's face went beet red for a moment.  
  
"What are you talking about? Of course you do!" Audrena turned away from him the instant before he could finish.  
  
"No I don't! Furthermore, I have a moral dilemma against cloning people!" Kyle face-vaulted with a cry of exasperation. Up in an instant, he shook his head and walked out of the room.  
  
'Ok, so that wasn't the best way to propose . . .'  
  
-  
  
-  
  
Nitric's hologram sat down heavily next to Wraith's outside the base, not talking to her for a moment before speaking up, staring at the ground.  
  
"Do you regret that night?" He muttered, still staring at the ground. Wraith eyed him for a moment, her form swollen.  
  
" . . . No. Not really at least, the only bad part about this besides the constant puking and the pain and mood swings is the fact I'm 10 tons heavier." Nitric winced.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"What are you sorry for?"  
  
"Because I know I did this to you." Wraith chuckled.  
  
"You're forgiven. Besides, it's not exactly like I hated the procreating process." Nitric grinned mischievously.  
  
"Ah yeah, I'll never forget that. You meowed instead of moaned." Wraith punched his shoulder with a smirk.  
  
"You were no different, you doof. You preferred to growl and roar!" Nitric stuck his tongue out at her impishly, Wraith returning the favor.  
  
Wraith paused in her side of the taunting to sneeze. Another one followed the first, and another, and another, and another, until she started having a sniffling fit. Nitric eyed her warily.  
  
"Err . . . do you need a tissue or something?" Nitric inquired, cocking his head to the side in mild confusion while his pregnant lover continued to sneeze. Labor pains suddenly slammed into the liger, making the hologram gasp and the mechanical body shudder and growl.  
  
"Wraith? You ok?" Nitric asked, starting to become alarmed.  
  
-  
  
-  
  
Audrena's head shot up from her sitting position, hearing a bout of intense sneezing from outside. Dropping the book she was currently burning just for fun (Martha Stewart's Guide to Being the Perfect Wife), she gave a sharp whistle, calling every female zoid in the hangar was instantly at her side and every male evacuated the premises. All except Nitric and Kyle, the both of them having no idea what was going on.  
  
Nitric was quickly pushed out of the way by the masses of female zoids that was escorting Wraith down to the 13th floor. Audrena paused and turned, seeing Nitric start to trot after them. The female pilot shook her head and teleported in front of him, stopping both the zoidian body and the hologram.  
  
"No. You can't go down with them. You've got to hang around outside the door. It's a messy business, you know." Nitric pouted and was about to say something, but Kyle put a hand on his mechanical leg.  
  
"You can wait." He said, and looked over to grin at Audrena, but she wasn't there, having transmitted to her liger's side. -  
  
-  
  
(4 ½ hours later . . .)  
  
-  
  
-  
"Can you please stop pacing Nitric?! I'm getting dizzy and I'm not even watching you!" Nitric eyed his pilot evilly.  
  
"Well, sorry! You'd be the same way if Audrena was in the process of bearing your kid too!" The zoid shouted back, rumbling back and forth. Kyle paused, then nodded. He hadn't considered it that way.  
  
"Yeah, I guess s-" He was interrupted by the human-sized door opening. The female pilot stepped through the door, wiping vast amounts of core fluid off of her face. Nitric's hologram immediately appeared and began shaking Audrena's shoulders roughly, staring at her wide-eyed and looking frantic. Kyle blinked, staring at the scene with mild amusement.  
  
"IS SHE ALRIGHT? HUH? WHERE'S WRAITH! WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER!? WHERE'S THE KID? HUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUH?!?!" Audrena was a little stunned by the sudden whipping around, so she got shaken about quite a bit, her head jolting around violently.  
  
"Stop that Nitric! You're giving me whiplash!" Nitric backed away reluctantly, sticking his hands in his holographic pockets. He still looked frantic, and it was obvious even if he tried to hide it.  
  
It was kind of a dead give-away when Nitric's mecanicle body started to try and bust down the door. It wasn't working so well.  
  
If you would, compare a fly to the windshield of a car going 50 miles per hour down the freeway. You'll get the idea of how well Nitric was doing. He was starting to find the weak points of the titanium alloy wall though . . .  
  
"Look Nitric, she's fine, ok?" Audrena shouted over the noise, trying to calm the zoid down. Kyle started chuckling wildly. It was quite amusing to see his Fury, normally so composed, completely agitated and frenzied like this. Audrena ignored Kyle and continued.  
  
"You should be quite proud of her, actually. Punching that massive thing-" Nitric gritted his teeth in shock at the word 'punching' and made a small squeaking noise. The pilot narrowed her eyes in annoyance. 'Good god, he's freaking out over everything.'  
  
"Well, anyway, guess what? You're the father of a tiny male liger that's down right-" A loud wrenching noise echoed around the 13th floor, and a cloud of dust rose as Nitric broke down the wall and charged into the room, tearing through the various layers of insulation. Even as the wall's metal shell began to re-grow; Audrena got a very sour look on her face, sweatdropping through the silvery-green core fluid.  
  
"Cute." She finished dryly. Kyle blinked, then grinned sheepishly.  
  
"Never seen him do anything like that, that's for sure. Heck, I don't think I've ever seen him this far out of his mind before!" Audrena turned and fixed him with a 'Don't-you-know-the-circumstances?' stare.  
  
"I would think that you would be damn near tearing concrete walls down if your wife had just delivered your child too." She stated, glaring at him in annoyance. "I mean, come on. You've got to think about it that way." She looked him up and down.  
  
"Hell, I think you would spontaneously combust, either that, or suddenly blow yourself up in a freak incident of stress-produced excitation of molecular energy." She babbled nonchalantly, trying to confuse her listener with a vocabulary she knew he had but didn't like to use. Kyle shook his head.  
  
"Not only do you scare me, but you continue to educate me in the various ways of life." He shook his head, smiling a little. "I don't even know I'm sticking around."  
  
"Simple, because you have nowhere else to go, and secondly, out of simple love and respect." She sniffed, smiling through it though and giving the joke away. A pair of arms encircled her waist in a playful gesture.  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot."  
  
"You do that a lot."  
  
"I know, I just want assurance that what I feel is returned, that's all." Audrena giggled, leaning her head against his shoulder.  
  
From the stairwell though, a pair of orange eyes almost gave a smirk away.  
  
"Perfect time to attack, Master DeLacarte . . ."  
  
The tiny implant chattered in Troden's earlobe as the response came in, sound waves designed to be inaudible to the average human ear.  
  
"Status on their zoids?" The response hissed  
  
"Both are on the 13th floor. Wraith's just-"  
  
"Who's Wraith?"  
  
"Audrena's liger."  
  
"Oh . . ."  
  
"Going by the books again Master?"  
  
"Of course you nitwit." There was a pause. "Are you questioning my strategy?"  
  
"God no!" The fox shuddered in the shadows, glancing at Kyle and Audrena for any signs that they had noticed him. He shook his head, smiling to himself. Still exchanging affections. Good humans. "Sorry Malone, I'm not suicidal."  
  
"Might I add you're the only infiltrator that has lasted more then a year? Keep up your attitude and your leading streak will end very abruptly. Anyway, I suggest you start working on Phase 3. I fear those machines more then the human who pilot them. I can't have those two zoids meddling, you know. After all, my chandelier is quite fragile."  
  
"Yeah," Troden hissed. This was way too much work, even for a lifetime supply of Chinese hot mustard. Just thinking of mustard made him hungry. God, he loved hot mustard. Then again, it wasn't only for mustard . . . "I know that very well."  
  
"Good. Make sure that the Voids-"  
  
"The Voids, sir?"  
  
"When you're as old as I am, you can almost predict what's about to happen."  
  
"Oh boy . . ." Troden giggled wildly. It was quickly cut off by a curt snort.  
  
"I leave you with a quote Troden, one to bear in mind. It relates to your situation completely. 'Hard work will set you free.' Auschwitz, 1944."  
  
There was a chuckle from the other end and the line went to slight and soft static. Troden sighed, his heart heavy, staring at the couple he had to send to their eternal captivity. He shook his head as he entered an airshaft, his favorite way of getting around the base. The shadow fox had begun to question his own thoughts as he squirmed through the dark tunnels.  
  
'Was his freedom worth the slavery of two others?'  
  
-  
  
-  
  
Nitric plodded into the room, eyes trailing through the gloom. His hologram had switched off without his knowing, and the wall he had broken through having long before rebuilt itself, sealing him in darkness. The room was completely dark except for the slight flickering light that shone up through the thick glass that was the floor. It flung watery reflections on his blue and black armor, causing his eyes to wander downward towards the glass floor.  
  
The zoid let out a yelp and jumped a good 4 feet in the air, landing in a heap about 3 yards from his original spot. The shark didn't really care, and went swimming right on by beneath the transparent floor. Nitric scrambled up, trying to get a hold over his frazzled nerves. He could have hit himself right then. He had faced and survived Vega's Berserk Fury, Audrena's temper, and Mara Void, along with a whole lot of other disturbing things in his lifetime.  
  
And now a small shark frightens him. Good grief.  
  
It was only after a moment did he look cautiously down at the floor again, cocking his head to the side in confusion.  
  
"This is one seriously messed up base." He muttered, staring down into the marine ecosystem below his claws. The light that shone up through the water outlined various denizens of the deep, also telling of the depth of the tank under Nitric's feet. Doing a quick scan of the whole reservoir, the zoid examined each species and shook his head.  
  
"Audrena, you are even more of a twisted genius then I believed. Extinct fish, who would have thought! You've got an aquarium of terminated marine life for the delivery room floor! How sick!" He kept muttering various thoughts under his breath as he continued his search, plodding around the seemingly endless chamber, his surroundings starting to scare him.  
  
He paused in his plight, blinking at the sight meeting his expanded silver eyes.  
  
" . . .Did I . . . do that?" He whispered to himself, looking through the faintly lit dark, his heart sinking.  
  
Wraith was curled up like a sleeping house-cat; puddles of core fluid starting to evaporate around her body. The liger had twisted around something protectively, that huge tail blade of hers hiding something.  
  
Nitric immediately thought his lustful urge 3 moths ago had killed his girlfriend, and he started walking again with growing dread. It was only when he approached that something in the darkness began to stir.  
  
But it wasn't Wraith. That's for sure.  
  
The fury backed away warily, careful to think of some sort of trick. Movement could be traced. Something was attempting to move the massive scythe that blocked its route of escape, mewing pathetically. Tentatively, Nitric tip-toed forward and lifted the mammoth blade away gently . . .  
  
Immediately, what appeared to be a fully formed zoid fell to the floor, all 4 outwardly splayed legs silhouetted against the watery light.  
  
The tiny liger seemed to be about 8 feet in height while standing, being about 4 ½ feet tall when fallen. Miniature pieces of blood red armor decorated his body, the grey green claws and blades adding a dark contrast, his canines jutting out from his jaw. Oddly enough, the male had inherited his mother's teeth, blades, and wings . . . well, somewhat. He had a set that were almost identical to his mothers, except for the fact that his were a maroon color instead of dark purple and that his were twice as big as he was. Along with that, there was a bottom set too, a pair of Nitric's own dragonfly blades, giving him the appearance that he had butterfly-like wings.  
  
Menacingly twisted and evil-looking butterfly wings, but nonetheless.  
  
The tiny machine struggled up again, weaving to his feet. And upon reaching his feet, he sneezed, sending him back to the floor. Blinking as he recovered from the little sneeze, the minute infant blinked, staring curiously at Nitric's claws. Baring his tiny teeth playfully, he pulled himself up again, weaving to and fro.  
  
Nitric watched this with disbelief and growing wonder. 'Machines creating Machines . . .'  
  
"Mroawr!"  
  
A sudden pressure on Nitric's claws attracted his gaze downward to his feet. The pint-size zoid had pounced on the middle claw on Nitric's right foot, the acid coating on Nitric's claws not seeing to have any effect on the tiny liger's armor. After gnawing vainly but viciously on the claw that was easily as big as he was for a moment, the infant raised his head to look up at the body and head that the foot was attached to. He cocked his head to the side in curiosity, staring at Nitric as though he had just noticed that the fury was there. An unexpected twinge of pride rose in Nitric's core.  
  
It had his eyes . . .  
  
"Hello there," The fury remarked, grinning a little, watching the utterly adorable liger yawn widely and curl up on his middle claw to sleep, purring a bit.  
  
"I'm your dad." He finished in a disbelieving voice, sounding as though he couldn't believe his own words . . . -  
  
- (Days later . . .) -  
  
- "OOOOOOOOOH!" The Stealth Viper squealed, completely beside herself at the sight of Nitric and Wraith's son, the infant currently trying to ingest her tail. The temperature out on the 2nd floor was kept at a constant, so even if it was 120° outside.  
  
"He is sooooooooo CUTE!" She seemed to ignore the fact that 'so cute' child had bitten off the last 2 feet of her derriere. Wraith smirked to herself. She never liked the snake anyway.  
  
"Thank you. He's going to be quite the lady-killer when he gets older. Then again, what can you expect from the two most powerful zoids this side of Zi?" The massive liger posed a little, beaming proudly.  
  
"Have you named him yet?"  
  
"Sulfuric Liger. But we just call him Newt."  
  
"So where's the father?" Wraith rolled her eyes.  
  
"He got dragged off by the other males to celebrate. You should have seen him though when I first woke up. Nitric is so happy that he actually has a son; he was dancing the last time I saw him. Trust me, you have never lived until you've seen a dinosaur zoid dance with delight. He was hooting and yelling so much with joy that he ended up cracking the glass floor."  
  
"Ouch." Wraith shrugged.  
  
"Eh." The liger sat down on her haunches, watching Newt start to dig a hole in the turf, having scanned the dirt and found a metal object. Now bored, the Stealth Viper slithered off to find something more amusing to keep her narrow-minded brain on. The liger was growing at a phenomenal rate, at 6 inches every 10 hours, as was his intellect. In one week he was at the comprehension level of a 4-year-old. He starting to learn how to use the various mecanicle weapons that had equipped his body from birth, and the various and numerous holes around the bases walls told the truth of that. A clinking sound caused Wraith to glance down. Newt had unearthed his target and was currently chewing on it. A rusted soda can. Yuck . . .  
  
"Hi everybody!" Wraith immediately sweatdropped, donning a very sour look. She had noticed a change in his behavior lately, and it was starting to put her on edge.  
  
"Hello Troden." The fox didn't seem to hear the murderous tone in Wraith's voice and trotted towards Newt, looking him over with a disgusted look.  
  
"Yuck. It's a lizard!" He muttered, backing away. Instant silence throughout the floor. They all turned to stare at Troden as though he was suicidal and began to flood towards the opposite ends of the floor, not wanting to be anywhere near the newly condemned Shadow Fox. Troden blinked, unsure of what was about to happen. Newt's lower lip began to tremble. Even he could recognize the insult. Wraith looked insanely bloodthirsty right then and there, but stopped herself from attacking the fox when she noticed that newt was going to take care of the problem.  
  
The metal halves of Newt's ailerons flipped up and down to hang over and parallel to his back, the electricity webbing the acid intensifying. The other half of his airfoils curled around the now spinning blades, forming a large pair of cannons, the gyrating edges inside warping the very atoms inside, twisting them into unrecognizable molecule and distorting them into the 4th phase of matter . . . (sorry, I had to do that. We're studying the 4th phase of matter in Bio today . . .)  
  
Troden had no time to move out of the way. The assembly and charging of the two cannons took no less then 17 seconds, and the young liger anchored himself by latching to the ground, almost ready to fire. Troden gulped.  
  
"Err . . . Nice kitty . . ."  
  
"PLASMA CANNONS FIRE!" the Shadow Fox yelped and hit the ground barely in time to avoid the massive surge of 4th stage matter careening two inches over his head, the heat from the blast melting the top layer of armor on his ears, head, back, and tail. The discharge continued, and it didn't stop at the titanium walls either. The light generated from the energy, an eerie orange yellow, lit up the whole 7-mile floor, blanketing it in an uncanny glow until the power dissipated.  
  
Blinking and trying to ignore the fact that the top of his back was melted, Troden hauled himself up and peered into the 12-mile tunnel that the blast had dug into the rock with a gaze of awe and relief that he hadn't been in the way. The shadow fox then quickly evacuated the scene, hoping not to invoke the child's wrath again. Newt began to giggle, pointing at the half-mile wide hole that he had made with his pair of Plasma Cannons.  
  
"Lookie! Imakadahole!"  
  
Wraith blinked, shocked and lofty at the same time.  
  
"He most certainly got that from my side of the family."  
  
-  
  
-  
  
Kyle paced back and forth in the small hallway, looking exceptionally nervous and tense, compulsively fingering something in his pocket and muttering various thoughts under his breath.  
  
"No no no . . . she'd hit me if I said something like that . . . or have pulmonary failure, which ever one . . ."  
  
Hearing incoherent babbling, Troden stuck his slightly melted head out of the airshaft to see the Obscura ambling around. Hearing the grate swing open, Kyle glanced up, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"What happened to you?" He asked, watching Troden fall ungraciously to the floor, none too gently either. The fox wobbled on unsteady legs as he stood up, sitting on his haunches to avoid falling over. His nerves were still shot from his encounter with a seriously temperamental and over- powerful child zoid. Not too fun in his opinion.  
  
"Don't ask. But anyway, I heard you talking to yourself. Everything ok?" The human nodded, paused in thought, and then shook his head.  
  
" . . ."  
  
The Shadow fox cocked his head to the side, then looked upward at the label over the door Kyle was standing in front of, along with the warning sign.  
  
'Level 17, Chorus and Band Floor. All non-designated zoids will stay out! Anyone caught trespassing inside during non-appointed times will be severely punished, using rusty nails and watermelons . . . Wait a second, why did I add watermelons in? . . . That reminds me, I'm hungry. Maybe some watermelon . . . Ok, I just succeeded in confusing myself; so just stick by the rules unless you're in the Base Chorale or Orchestra, got it? And that means you too Kyle!'  
  
Troden shook his head.  
  
"Audrena loves her music. What could be so important as to-"  
  
Kyle quickly shut him up by hesitantly taking out the object in his pocket. He trusted the zoid with his life, and hoped he could keep a secret.  
  
Troden blinked at the small black velvet covered box and raised a nonexistent skeptical eyebrow.  
  
"You're giving her a box?" Kyle blinked and sweatdropped.  
  
"You don't know very much about human relationships, do you."  
  
"Err . . . I know enough to know that you shouldn't go in there."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Do you enjoy being tortured with watermelons and a rusty nail?" The human ignored him, stuffing the box back into his pocket and grabbing the doorknob, an old fashion round door handle (Think the kind you have at school. You'll get the idea.), stepping into the room and shutting the door quietly.  
  
Darkness met his eyes, complete and utter darkness. Lifting a hand and waving it in front of his face, his dark hazel eyes widened a little. He couldn't see his own hand two inches in front of his face. This was like being blind . . . or buried alive. Sweat began to bead on his forehead, not from apprehension, but with heat. The humidity and temperature in this place was quite a change to the arid desert air that pervaded the base; it was like being in a green house. He could hear running water somewhere, like a waterfall and a slow river moving at once, and the occasional organized hum of voices tuning up added to the strange melody. The faint sound of wings also met his ears, making for a very primeval sound.  
  
Blinking and using his ears to navigate, he took a few cautious steps out into the gloom, towards the sounds . . .  
  
He was unprepared when the lights suddenly switched on and he cringed away form the light, his eyes stinging form the sudden exposure. He squinted through the glare that was the room, until the vague form of an Iron Kong stood out against the light.  
  
"So are you the new bass we've been waiting for?" It rumbled, a southern accent heavy on each word. Kyle gulped.  
  
"God help me!" He whimpered. Blinking and clearing his mind, he crossed his arms and tried to look imposing, giving the zoid a cross stare.  
  
"I couldn't sing if my life depended on it, much less be the new bass." He stated curtly.  
  
"Besides, I'm not a fish."  
  
"Bubba! Back off! I need a clear shot!" Someone shouted from behind him. The gorilla zoid smirked and moved to the side, to show a sight very strange to even the seasoned Obscura.  
  
His senses were right about his surroundings in the first place. It WAS a green house, an underground green house. Palm trees, orchids, massive ferns, rubber plants, moss, vines, various bushes, everything was covered in plant life. A massive waterfall fell from the top of the far west ivy- covered wall, landing in a pool and dissipating into a slow moving river that meandered around the place. And among the foliage was a group of more full-sized if not enlarged zoids, each a myriad of armor colors and zoid classes, hiding in the leaves and peeking out at their visitor. And the machines didn't seem to notice the thicket of butterflies flitting about, completely at home among the dinner-plate sized neon colored flowers that jutted about in miscellaneous places.  
  
To say the least, Kyle was a tad bit overwhelmed by it all. The smell was like being in a perfume shop. To his relief, Audrena stepped out from behind Bubba's front arm/leg, but she didn't exactly seem like she was happy to see him. He studied her for a moment. She seemed to be in a more patient but flammable mood today, according to her outfit. Her hair was in those blue ringlets again, and a deep grey sleeveless turtleneck replaced the normal black or navy blue T-shirt, along with the same black cargo pants, the kind that zip off at the knee. That was the first time Kyle ever got to look at Audrena's lower legs. He stopped himself from fidgeting. 'Yeesh . . . I'm glad she's never kicked me . . .'  
  
A memory suddenly came to his mind, of that dream that plagued him while he was wandering around Zi. Flashes of various scenes from the nightmare shot through his mind, but one in particular. The shot of Audrena's crystal and the figure inside of it, everything began to match. The clothing, the length of the hair and the style, even the color of her footgear, everything was exactly identical.  
  
His mind kept revolving between these scenes and the real world, seeing both the memory and reality at the same time, but separately. Kyle began to make a connection and his heart sank. Everything correlated, from fact to dream and back again . . .  
  
"I know you're not blind," Audrena started, causing Kyle to tear his eyes back up to her face, somewhat reluctantly. "And that you're somewhat capable of reading ("HEY!" Kyle screeched.), so you must have seen the warning label."  
  
" . . . "  
  
Audrena sighed, and every zoid leaned forward, hoping to see Kyle get covered in rusty nails or hit over the head with an unripe watermelon. (That reeeaaaally hurts. Trust me on that one!) Instead, the human shook her head, looking as though she was regretting the action she was about to take.  
  
"Well, it must be something important, so spit it out before I have Bubba here demonstrate the ultimate wedgie for you." The Iron Kong grinned evilly and every zoid in the background winced. Kyle didn't really hear the threat. His nerves were starting to act up right around the phrase 'spit it out'.  
  
"Audrena . . . will-" He stopped there and stuck his hands in his pockets, mentally pulling the small box out of his pocket, but keeping it form her line of sight. He took another deep breath to steady himself, the small black box hovering behind his head and wreathed in a gentle blue radiance.  
  
"Will you-" He cut himself off again, his throat clenching up on his again. 'Stupid nerves!' He thought angrily to himself. It was just a simple question!  
  
'Hold it . . . what is he getting at?' All thought processes in Audrena's mind halted. The pilot narrowed her eyes at him, waiting quietly and plotting . . .  
  
"Look Audrena, I've actually been meaning to ask you for a while now, but I've never had the guts before. And even now, I feel that I should be running in the opposite direction . . ."  
  
'Uh oh . . .' That statement set off alarm bells in Audrena's mind. She glanced at a watch around her wrist. 10:45 PM . . .  
  
Neither of the humans noticed that the zoids behind them began to silently sink to the ground around them, tumbling down and crashing to the ground with cores dead of charge and sucked completely dry. Neither one of the pilots could hear a sound of it. Had someone just entered the room, they would have heard massive crashing and ear-wrenching noise, just as normal. Troden winced as he entered the room, Bubba having just collapsed to the moss-covered floor and making quite a bit of noise. The fox trotted into the shadows behind a thick grove of orange trees, waiting for his master to give the signal.  
  
"Audrena," Kyle steeled himself again, hoping for the best. "Will you m-"  
  
The sound barrier that Malone had set up fell in that moment, cutting off Kyle's proposal with a barrage of noise, the discord having been held back from their ears. An explosion of sound met the pair head on and they both cried out, clapping their hands over their ears in an attempt to shield themselves from the sound.  
  
Malone waited for them, his hunger steadily being satisfied by the many zoidian energies he had just assimilated. But even after 45 living breathing zoids, the vampire still felt the pang of hunger. He smiled to himself, glancing to the side at Troden, purple eyes glittering wildly. What a faithful little drudge . . .  
  
Audrena was the first one to stop cringing from the noise, straightening up slowly. Kyle soon followed, the clamor ringing in their ears. Silence now pervaded the room. Even the waterfall had stopped, as had the river. The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up, and adrenaline started to pump through every artery and vein in her system, her senses becoming heightened. They weren't alone . . .  
  
Kyle could immediately tell something was wrong with his surroundings. His own heart began to race; a chill spurted down his spine; and his mental abilities went on full-scale alert.  
  
'Oh great, what now?'  
  
"Oh look, I've alarmed them." A sarcastic voice sneered from the shadows, causing both Audrena and Kyle to whip around, looking for the source of the phonation. Malone shook his head and stepped out into the simulated sunlight for both to see. The couple studied the new comer before going back on guard again.  
  
"What are you doing in my base?" Audrena hissed, not even bothering to ask the intruder's name. Malone snickered, his curly black hair bobbing a bit.  
  
"Cutting to the chase, as always. You're so predictable Audrena, but you always were." Kyle immediately scooted protectively in front of Audrena. He didn't like that remark. The ancient man then smirked at Kyle, his glassy magenta eyes glittering as though he knew a secret.  
  
"Kyle Obscura, I presume. It's always been your nature to bite the bullet in place of your loved ones, though you never seemed to succeed in that particular art. You're long dead mother can be used as an example. I remember watching that, trying to save her from that car collision . . ."  
  
Kyle snorted, hiding his surprise.  
  
'How'd he know about that?'  
  
Malone chuckled darkly.  
  
"How rude of me. I didn't introduce myself! I am Malo-"  
  
"I don't care who the hell you are." Audrena spat, glaring at the intruder. "Just get out of my home." Malone turned his purple gave to her, that creepy smile frozen on his face. Audrena gulped.  
  
"Naughty naughty little Drenny! You'll be punished for that one." A slight increase in his smirk and the pilot faded from view with a slight pop, a look of sheer shock printed on her face. Kyle swung around in vain, trying to locate her. After a few seconds, he turned back to Malone with a look of rising anger.  
  
"Where's Audrena?"  
  
"No matter, you'll be joining her soon enough." He said, sounding bored.  
  
"Sorry about this Kyle, but this has to happen." A squeaky teen-like voice muttered, sounding immensely guilty. Recognition met Kyle's eyes and he couldn't help but gasp a little.  
  
"Troden? . . . I can't . . . I can't believe it. You're working with this guy?!"  
  
"Enough!" Malone turned his back on his newest target. The world began to swirl in on Kyle's vision, reversing in color and becoming tunnel like. It was all very confusing, especially when he was jerked along for the ride.  
  
"Come. Enjoy yourselves before you're put to work."  
  
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AHHHHHHHHHHHH! *runs screaming to write the next chapter, Dances with Liger Pilots* 


	11. Dances with Liger Pilots

Hey peoples! Sorry I didn't update in so long. But I was grounded. Stupid me. Anyway, hears a little more madness with 'Dances with Liger Pilots'.   
  
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Kyle didn't get a whole lot of time to look at the strange scenery around him. With another pop, the pilot landed hard on what seemed like a marble floor, the impact knocking the breath form him. He took a moment to stand, examining his surroundings with his ears again. Soft and classical violin music met his ears, along with the clinking glasses and faint feminine giggling. The sight that met his eyes though, it was a tad bit shocking, but nonetheless puzzling.   
  
Something reminiscent to a formal party was taking place. Penguin suits and evening gowns abound, along with the formal wear of their time and era, mixing like a flood of brightly colored silks and cloth, swirling about to the strange beat of the violin music. The room was massive, and could easily fit the entire first floor of Audrena's base within it with room to spare. Tables laid out with delicacies stood to one side, enticing to the eyes. A fairly flat but sweeping stair case led up to a set of massive brass doors, gleaming and glittering in the suspended chandelier light. Everything was marble or some other rare material, more stone pillars holding up the beautifully painted ceiling and massive stained glass windows opening up onto night-darkened balconies . . .   
  
'Why on earth did that guy send me here?' He snickered at the bunch. 'Good god, what a bunch of stiffs.'   
  
Blinking, his nose began to itch. On reflex, he reached up to scratch it, and got quite a surprise in the process. It was only then that he noticed that his own hands were gloved as well. With wide grey eyes, he examined his hands, then glanced down at his body, stifling a yelp. Kyle's clothes, unbeknownst to him, had been switched to the same formal wear as the rest of the guests at this well-to-do party.   
  
It was all very disturbing.   
  
"What in Zi?" He breathed, gazing out at the whole lot.   
  
It was strange though; he could start picking out people from the various crystals in his nightmares.   
  
After getting over the sheer oddness of the scene, he remembered the fact that Audrena was gone, along with that Malone guy . . . what a nut case.   
  
A hand dropped onto his shoulder, making Kyle jump and whirl. He found himself staring into a pair of purple eyes, and his guard immediately went back up.   
  
"Alright Malone, where's Audrena?"   
  
"Stop harrying me Kyle. She's here. You'll just have to wait for a moment." He glanced down at an old watch on his left wrist.   
  
"5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . ." He counted, sounding bored. Just as he was about to say 'one', some one appeared about 50 feet over their heads and smacked chest first into the polished floor with a cry of pain, growling in both discomfort and frustration. The curly haired dictator then smirked at Kyle, who glared back.   
  
"Told you so." He said in a matter-of-factly tone, walking away toward the cuisine laden tables, smirking widely.   
  
The fury pilot watched him go before stooping to help the fallen woman, who was pulling herself up slowly with numerous and structured yet colorful curses.   
  
"You ok? That was a pretty bad fall there." He said, hiding a grin. The woman turned her head and glared at him with much venom, and Kyle recoiled a bit.   
  
"Trust me," Audrena hissed, looking quite peeved. "I know!" Hauling herself to her feet, she dusted herself off to some extent, then glanced over at the questioner.   
  
"Oh wait . . . oops . . . I thought you were that one monk guy again. He keeps following me around and asking me to bear his child. What a crackpot!"   
  
A flicker of annoyance shot through his mind and he turned to see another black haired man blink in alarm and walk away whistling. (Two guesses who that is, heehee!)   
  
"What is it with black haired morons these days?" Kyle sighed, shaking his head. A fit of giggling made him glance over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow.   
  
"What's so funny?"   
  
"You look like someone normal! That's fricken funny!" Kyle chuckled a little, looking her over as well.   
  
"You shouldn't talk. You look somewhat feminine with that dress on." She donned a very sour look.   
  
"What dress?" She spat, in all seriousness, having not worn a dress since the age of five. Kyle blinked, looking her over again, his eyes glittering mischievously.   
  
"Isn't it kind of obvious?" The female pilot blinked, then looked down at herself and yelped, startling both Kyle and a few others that were passing by.   
  
"What happened to my clothes!?" She stated hotly, staring down at the billowy lilac purple garment that draped her form, along with a pair of elbow gloves of the same material and color. She stuck out her lip and pouted, somewhat depressed.   
  
"I hate this." She whined. "I hate this with much fervor." Kyle rolled his eyes, but had to suppress a small smile.   
  
"Hey. Think about it this way. At least it isn't lime green." He quickly said the rest before Audrena could use the anger that was now flaming in her eyes.   
  
"Purple suits you, it brings out the color of your eyes! Besides, you look taller." Kyle let out a small sigh of relief when Audrena glanced down at the ground and a delighted grin replaced her frown.   
  
"Holy components, you're right!" She paused. "Wait a second . . ." Lifting up the rim of the gown, she looked under at her shoes, and found that she was still wearing her boots.   
  
"Huh . . ."   
  
Gazing around, Kyle began to notice that about an eighth of the men out conversing were more in a colonial style of dress, and were staring at Audrena's ankles* as she was trying to figure out why the rest of her clothing was replaced and not her boots. Getting a tad bit edgy, he cleared his throat promptly to get her attention.   
  
"Have you tried every exit out of here?" Audrena gave him the I-know-you're-not-that-stupid look. He grinned sheepishly.   
  
"Obviously. The balconies are shielded from the outside, the windows are all shatter proof, the bronze doors are electrified, and there's a teleportation shield overhead. Whoever got us in here must've been intent on not letting us out." Again, Kyle paused, this time feeling something intruding in his thoughts. Audrena halted, getting it as well.   
  
"Listening in on us is he?" She muttered, ripping off her gloves and throwing them to the side. Her   
  
fists immediately clenched, as though she was going to physically fight off the thing in her mind.   
  
"Excuse me," Kyle jumped about a foot in the air as an icy cold hand was laid on his shoulder. He whipped his head around, only to stare into a pair of amber yellow eyes. Calming down about 2 inches, he took a step back.   
  
"Jumpy, aren't we?" The dog demon couldn't help but taunt. This guy was so taunt you could almost play him like a guitar string. Kyle paused, another recollection coming to him. The man with white hair and dog-ears . . .   
  
"Tell me," He continued, just as Kyle was opening his mouth to answer. "That there, she's your mate, right?"   
  
Two things happened right then. Kyle gritted his teeth in embarrassment and turned red as a ripe cherry tomato. The other was that Audrena let out a growl of wrath at such an accusation, leaping forward and bashing the insulator's left jaw. How dare he say something like that!  
  
Now, you have to consider a half saiyan versus a hanyo`. Both are powerful and prone to temper rages, but one has an advantage over the other. Incredibly strong bones. So the hanyo' got away without a shattered mandible. But it became a standoff, and both attacker and victim received damage.   
  
Audrena fell back with a cry of pain; three of her knuckles broken in a hit that would normally send a person crashing to the ground, and the Inu stumbled backwards, 2 teeth knocked loose and a bruise starting to rise in the area. Kyle got between the two immediately, ready to hold the two apart. Inuyasha was just about fighting tooth and nail to get back at the woman who had just decked him, two of his teeth lying on the floor in a small puddle of saliva. Kyle was having a very hard time holding the furious dog-boy back, who was attempting to try and murder that female. Audrena readied the fist that wasn't cracked and limp, ready to brawl yet again, and rushed back into it. Quickly deciding that he had had enough, he threw them both about 20 feet in opposite directions. Malone looked on with a small smirk. Kyle's mental abilities were growing exponentially…  
  
"Stop it, both of you!" Another voice cried, a tall orange-haired girl trotting forward, looking patiently vicious. She turned to Audrena first; who was shaking her hand in extreme pain.   
  
"I can understand the anger from Inuyasha's words, but that doesn't mean you have to hit him!"   
  
Audrena simply gave a snarl in response, Kyle's healing abilities going to work on her knuckles.   
  
The flaming redhead then turned her attention to the dog-eared fellow, who eyed her dryly.   
  
"Look Mystery-"   
  
"It's Misty!" Kyle shook his head and led the still cursing Audrena away form the now feuding pair before things got ugly. Even if the bones and cartilage were restored, it still stung, and the liger pilot kept profanitizing.   
  
"Stupid #$$ #& #^&#%^&# %&#%^&#^& %^U %^&#%&%!!!" Eventually, after numerous stares from the other guests, she stopped cursing and instead became quite calm again. Kyle blinked as a slower tone came the accompanying music, a tad bit sweeter in the sound. A small smile lit his face and he swept a bow, smiling at Audrena.   
  
"Care to dance?"   
  
A massive red blush came to Audrena's face and she stared incredulously at him with an expression of shock shining in her face.   
  
"Here? Now?" Her head swung around towards the other guests, then back down at the gently smiling Kyle, amused at her reaction.   
  
"I figured that would be your reaction, but yes. Here, and now. There's no one here to chide us for our actions, no one to poke fun. Just us and a group of strangers, heedless to our actions." Audrena stared him down for a while before shaking her head and sighing. Ok, so he was trying to get her in with his big vocabulary. Feh.  
  
"Well, I do owe you a favor for fixing my knuckles . . . Fine then, I concede." She said, holding up her hands in defeat. Kyle blinked, cocking his head from the left to the right in slight confusion.   
  
"You say that like it's a bad thing."   
  
"It is. I've never danced in my life. And those shoes look so shiny, I don't want to scuff them up."   
  
Kyle eyed her warily.   
  
"You almost had me believing you. Strike one." He took her right hand in his and grinned.   
  
"Besides, there isn't a better time to learn then now." Audrena grit her teeth.   
  
'Great. Absolutely wonderful. So NOW he gets romantic!'   
  
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Nitric began growling in his sleep mode, a dream of some sorts affecting his mind. With a start, the fury jerked awake, shaking himself into full consciousness. Glancing to the side, he allowed himself a moment before nudging Wraith awake.   
  
"Hey!" He whispered with his tone urgent. "Hey! Wake up! We got to go!"   
  
The liger growled at him, her bladed tail wrapped around Newt, who was fast asleep.   
  
His nudging became more urgent. "Come on Wraith, he got to get up. Kyle and Audrena are gone!" She groaned and put her head back down.   
  
"Wait until the morning!"  
  
Nitric sighed and rolled his eyes, and began nudging her again.  
  
She growled warningly.  
  
He continued.  
  
Now thoroughly pissed off, she promptly bit his head in retaliation. The fury screamed through his shut jaw, and it came out muffled and distorted.   
  
"Wait until the morning!" She groaned after releasing his head, curling her bladed tail tighter around the sound asleep Newt. "Go away!" Nitric, now thoroughly annoyed, kicked the liger with a clawed foot. Nitric shook his now pained head in disgust, turning around and walking out of the hanger.   
  
"Fine then," He muttered to himself, plodding out across the desert into the star-lit night.   
  
"I'll find Kyle and Audrena myself."   
  
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Audrena donned a very sour look.   
  
"Do we have to?" She hissed. "I mean, come on, it's not like we'll die if we don't!" Kyle gave a chuckle.   
  
"Scared Audrena? Never knew you to be a coward."   
  
That statement pushed all of Audrena's metaphorical buttons. That was a big insult in her books.   
  
'I'll show you!' She thought silently, suddenly determined. She would prove him wrong. Oh yes, she'd show him! Kyle watched the fireworks display in her eyes and knew he had said the right thing to get that fire of conviction blazing.   
  
"I'm not a coward. Just nervous." She hissed. Kyle moved closer, much to Audrena's increased uneasiness. This whole place made her apprehensive, and Kyle's actions were just making it worse. She shuddered, feeling an arm around her waist that most certainly didn't belong to her.   
  
"Jeez," She muttered, blushing like mad and trying to cover it up by breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Your hands are cold."   
  
"And going to new territory, might I add." Kyle murmured, going a little red. He had reason to be red. He had never touched anyone's waist, much less Audrena's. It sort of scared him, and he kept expecting some sort of physical or verbal violence. But none came. So he went on cautiously, hoping not to get hit.   
  
"You know, I finally figured out why you mean so much to me." That was a little alarming. Audrena blinked, trying to remember when she asked that. She eyed him carefully, still keeping her distance.   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
Again, Kyle's tone was cautious. He still was expecting to get thrashed.   
  
"Well, if you weren't around, I wouldn't feel complete." Audrena blinked, then nodded her head in a side to side motion in a version of 'Ok, I can deal with that.' It took a moment to realize the sheer gentleness in his voice, and to cover up her shock and somewhat embarrassed happiness, she implied a very strategic move.   
  
She put her head on his shoulder.   
  
A massive blush covered Kyle's face, letting out a happily content sigh. Audrena snickered silently in the back of her mind.   
  
He was so easy to manipulate.   
  
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The desert stretched on, the dry and cracked ground purple in the early morning, but Nitric's pace didn't let up. Desert animals and reptiles on their early rounds looked up with alarm then slight interest as the massive rumbling beast sped past them, going about their business as the mechanical thing melted into the darkness.  
  
Nitric was now in a state of complete panic. Hundreds of situations regarding his pilot had run through his mind as he set out at about 1 in the morning, further fueling his alarm. It was now about 5:30, with dawn rising behind him, and Nitric was now in full-fledged panic, racing around at his top speed in any direction, trying to lock in on Kyle's DNA strands, which could be anywhere on the whole planet of Zi.  
  
This could take a while.  
  
After leaning towards the north, he smirked, turning sharply towards the DNA signal. Finally! It took long enough. But he began to slow, having been struck with a sudden thought. His pace continued to slow as he delved further into that idea, finally coming to a stop. What on earth was he doing that far north? Stretching his sensor to the limit, he tried to access Kyle's physical condition.   
  
What he got back only confused him more.  
  
What in God's name was he aroused for?!   
  
Oh wait…never mind, there it goes…  
  
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Audrena stirred on his shoulder. She, oddly, had found a sort of peace at this, but this was no time to contemplate strange, abnormal feelings. She could do that at a later date.   
  
"Hey Kyle?" She whispered, trying to get his attention. It didn't work. "Kyle!" She hissed, but nothing seem to snap him out of the strange funk he was in…  
  
Kyle was completely lost in his own emotions, though he wouldn't dare let them show. He was in a version of euphoria. This was the perfect situation, it was as though he was in the middle of the best hallucinogenic high any drug could possibly give. He was close to the only human he truly cared about, and she wasn't tried to kill him for it. Heck, the last time he looked, she appeared indisputably serene, almost comfortable. But then again, Audrena wasn't exactly the easiest to read emotionally…  
  
A poke in his ribs popped his pretty balloon, and he was launched back into reality rather abruptly.   
  
He stared into the rather annoyed face of his dance partner and grinned sheepishly.   
  
"Err…thanks for the dance…it was rather enjoyable." This took Audrena off-guard. Well, that explains where he was.  
  
"No problem, but keep at it, otherwise we'll get caught."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Shhhh…" They continued, though it was nowhere near as stiff-backed as the first time. She took her eyes to Malone, who was surrounded by various women, almost all rather scantly clad. They stuck out like a collaboration of sore thumbs among the formal wear, and it only made her more disgusted with him. Hanging with hoes eh?  
  
"You got any bright ideas on how we can get out of here?" She whispered urgently. Kyle had to snap himself out of his little world again. Feeling her breath on his ear made him sort of giddy, much less whispering.  
  
"Having fun are we?" The playful atmosphere disappeared immediately upon Malone's arrival. Audrena eyed him with suspicion, and a hint of jealousy. He was dressed casually, despite the fact that everyone else was in formal.   
  
"Oh yeah," She said with the largest amount of biting sarcasm she could manage, putting her hands on her hips and talking to the ceiling. "I'm just having the time of my life, knowing that I'm in the company and keep of a psychopath!" Malone looked to the side and sweat dropped. A sharp wit. The Voidian hadn't changed a bit.  
  
"I guess Kyle's stay in the institution didn't show up on his records."  
  
Kyle went pale in shock, but recovered quickly, and Audrena couldn't help but snigger at him. Malone smirked at the glare of death he received.  
  
"Well, I can truthfully say I'm not surprised." Kyle sweat dropped this time, not saying anything in return. A verbal counter-attack would only put him on this guy's level. Audrena snorted, trying to hide it by covering her hand with her mouth and failing miserably. She couldn't help herself. Even though her buddy was being vocally abused, she couldn't help but laugh at him. It was only a harmless joke, right?  
  
Right?  
  
"So why are you keeping us here?" Audrena demanded, getting back to the business at hand. Kyle glanced at her carefully, but nodded almost unnoticable, looking back at their host.   
  
Malone chuckled, snapping his fingers. The dancers disappeared, the lights, the music, the people, everything. The only think left was the ballroom, dusty beneath their feet. It was dim and dreary, looking as though it had not seen the light of day in a few hundred years. The luxurious curtains were gone, replaced by thick, heavy sheets of foldable metal.   
  
And in the middle of all this hung a massive chandolier, at least 5 times larger then even the largest antiques. The very last crystal scrapped the floor from a ceiling at least 50 feet high. Each of the crystals must've been made out of amethyst or something, because it glimmered purple in the minimal amount of light there was. Audrena was awe-struck, not by the fact that everything has disappeared, bu because of the sheer size of the chandolier. It towered over everyone there.  
  
Kyle though, was shocked, and a bit of bile rose in the back of his throat. This was the chandolier...that very chandolier from his nightmare...  
  
He scooted to Audrena's side.  
  
"We have to get out of here, now." He hissed. Another chuckle from Malone, his lime green eyes flashing triumphantly.  
  
"This is my life's work. I had to travel to 7 different dimensions to get this." He said, fingering one of the crystals. Audrena eyed him as though he was insane and ignorant, rather happy that she was in normal clothing again.  
  
"That's impossible. Inter-dimensional travel?! We haven't even gotten to time travel yet, much less between universes."   
  
Kyle nodded. "She has a point. If we haven't found out time travel yet, there is no way you can travel into other dimensions, because in the process, you would have to manipulate time as well."  
  
Malone snorted, his grin dropping immediatly.  
  
"Thanks for the quantum physics lesson Kyle. But unless the obvious is clear to you, I'll explain."   
  
"This is an Essance Corona." Audrena snickered.   
  
"I never knew you were the beer drinker."  
  
"Not that corona you idiot!" Malone sighed heavily.   
  
"There are very few of these, and I traveled to countless dimensions to stock it."   
  
Kyle blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Stocking it? With what?"   
  
Audrena paused, then it struck her.   
  
'All of those people on the dance floor...'  
  
"Oh my god..."  
  
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Weeee! Chapter up! And I swear I'll be quicker with the next one, Essance Theif. 


	12. Essance Thief

Weee! I told you I'd be faster! Anyway, before hand, I would think you'd respond to Malone as a sophisticated, note-worthy villain. Heh, you're wrong. You'll see exactly what I mean in the next few chapters, but here it is, Essence Thief.  
  
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Malone smirked. Finally, someone understood.   
  
  
  
Audrena recoiled, horrified, black/brown eyes traveling from crystal to crystal. Revulsion, already strong, began to grow even more. She whirled on him, but paused in seeing Malone's eyes. She shook her head violently at the sheer color shift from purple to lime green and back to purple again, shoving it to the back of her mind. This wasn't a time to ponder his changing eye color! This was a good time for revenge!  
  
  
  
"You have people's souls in there?!...why?!" She choked, unbelieving. Kyle simply shook his head.  
  
  
  
"Alright Malone, why do you have people stuck in there?" He said calmly, way too calmly for the situation. In truth, he was charging his mental abilities, having a strong feeling that he was going to need them later on.   
  
  
  
"A freak show maybe? Company? Because if you wanted company, all you had to do was just go to Romeo City and go talk to someone-"  
  
  
  
"Far from it Obscura." Their captor waved a hand to emphasize his point.  
  
  
  
"You see, all of these people, in their own times, dimensions, and worlds, they held some importance. This made their spirits much stronger. These spirits give off a sort of energy, mental, physical, and spiritual. This was meant to draw more people of their kind towards them, causing the strong to join with the strong."   
  
  
  
He gave the chandelier a fond pat, making it tinkle like a grossly over-sized wind chime.  
  
  
  
"But, these energies, if harnessed correctly, can be used to fuel something or someone. This collection-"  
  
  
  
"A collection?!" Audrena spat, now glaring at him with the utmost loathing. "These are people too, not historical items! Don't you have any compassion for your fellow human being?!"   
  
  
  
Kyle snorted.  
  
  
  
"You got to remember, he brought us here."  
  
  
  
Audrena chuckled mirthlessly. The situation wasn't very humorous.   
  
  
  
  
  
Malone simply rolled his eyes, shaking his head as well. These people never kept their mouths shut.  
  
  
  
"This bunch can easily power a metropolis the size of Romeo City for two months when the residents are using every power source available."  
  
  
  
To be frank, that caught both of his guests off guard.  
  
  
  
"So, you use this to power your home?" Kyle asked innocuously, looking around the dark and dusty ballroom for some sort of wall electrical outlet. Audrena was about to ask something, but was cast into silence by the somewhat twisted grin that slunk across their captor's face.  
  
  
  
"Oh no, it runs on it's own power…" Kyle tilted his head to the side, somewhat confused.  
  
  
  
"Then what could you use them for if your home runs on it's own power?"   
  
  
  
The two paused as Malone started to chuckle, his tone was rather dark. Audrena started to taste something acrid in the back of her mouth, and it took a moment for her to recognize all of these signals, the body chemistry changes. It was the fear index. Mentally slapping herself, she couldn't believe herself.  
  
  
  
Fear. It was so strange to feel fear after so long. She couldn't believe herself for not recognizing it. The accelerated heart beat, the acrid taste in the back of her throat, increased breathing rate, the sudden rush of adrenaline in her blood stream, the breakout of sweat underneath her arms, the light headed feeling, everything.   
  
  
  
It was incredible to feel fear again; it had been … years. Ages since a rush like this.   
  
  
  
Kyle, on the other hand, had felt fear before, but wasn't one to be quick to panic. If what he suspected was true then?   
  
  
  
"I use them for powering myself." Malone stated, smiling wildly. He seemed rather proud of himself. Audrena snorted, and began to snigger.   
  
  
  
"Ahuh. Right. Sure, and I'm a Maytag rubber duck. They can only process mechanical energy, not BTU's!" She chuckled and shook her head.   
  
  
  
"Baka."   
  
  
  
There was a moment of silence, then Audrena went pale, clasping her throat as it visibly began to collapse. Malone snickered.   
  
  
  
"Take that back, pretty Audrena. Take it back right now." He said calmly.   
  
  
  
Kyle's own mental powers flared up, along with his anger, but it was almost like someone had slammed a trap door on his mind. He couldn't use them. Shaking his head violently,   
  
Kyle decided that it would be best to use physical force.   
  
  
  
His tackle froze in mid air, along with the rest of him. Malone didn't even bat an eyelid, all of his attention on Audrena, who was currently gagging and clawing at the invisible hands around her throat.   
  
  
  
"Take that back." He stated again, insanely calm despite the fact that he was mentally strangling the life out of one of his guests. Kyle was now livid, and Malone dropped him to the floor, holding him there without much effort while maintaining Audrena at his eye level, which was a few inches off the ground for her. All this was fairly easy for him, even without accessing the Corona. Seeing she wouldn't respond, he dropped her carelessly, the woman crumbling on the floor like a rag doll. She sat up after a moment, her color returning after a moment. Kyle continued to struggle against his invisible bonds, despite the fact he knew it was useless. He had to get over there . . .   
  
He had to . . .   
  
  
  
"You know, you have a very bad taste in women." He droned, still holding Kyle to the floor as he talked to him. Audrena began to gain her breath, glaring evilly at Malone, planning horrible things for him in the future. No one chokes a Void and gets away with it! Just look at Mara, a prime example of what happens to a person who had the stupid idea of messing with Audrena Void! Starting to stand, she withdrew the dagger she hid in her boot, crouching and sneaking forward towards her enemy's exposed back . . .   
  
  
  
Kyle glared up at him from the floor, now attempting to pry open that lock on his mental capabilities as he came up with a good retort.   
  
  
  
"I guess you're so used to screwing the sluts that you can't recognize the best of the best anymore. I don't mean to brag, but I prefer a woman with a brain and a good heart, not if she's a Kama Sutra expert and spreading her legs is a common day task.?   
  
  
  
Malone's left eye twitched; his placid but somehow frightening smile morphing quickly into a hideous frown. Unlike the times he had spent with Mara, he didn't regret saying that. Malone's eyes inked to an icy green, boring into Kyle's like a pair of electric green drills.   
  
  
  
"Fine, I'll give that bitch some credit." He spat, his voice almost a hiss, completely unaware of the demonical woman sneaking up behind him.   
  
  
  
This in itself instantly lighted Kyle's temper, but it was the NEXT statement that really struck the pilot light.   
  
  
  
"She's a high priced elementary educated harlot."  
  
  
  
Malone was taken off guard by how hard he tried to get up, the expression on his face that of hateful wrath. He smirked though, pushing a hand down as though crushing something.   
  
  
  
"Hoof!" That was basically the noise that Kyle huffed as he was slammed into the marble, one of his vertebra cracking and the rest of his spine creaking menacingly. Cracks radiated out in the rock floor, his body having gone down a few inches into the parterre. He let out a small groan, pain circulating around his muscles and bones.   
  
  
  
Pressure also began to build in his chest, like two safes had been put on each lung and he had to breathe against the weight. His fists kept curling into fists and uncurling again before repeating the process in the effort to keep inhaling and exhaling. Malone withdrew his hands and crossed his arms, watching his victim start to loose consciousness.   
  
  
  
"You're pathetic." He said, triumph in his voice. Kyle raised an eyebrow, each movement difficult.   
  
  
  
"It takes one to know one." He rasped.   
  
  
  
It was obvious by now that Malone didn't take insults very well, nor did he like people disagreeing with him or rejecting him or his ways. It either had to be his way, or the grim prospect of torture and death. Whichever one you preferred.   
  
  
  
Kyle's statement wasn't exactly kosher.   
  
  
  
Malone dug his foot into Kyle's ribs with one quick motion, the ancient leather books grayed and the treads worn down to almost being as smooth as glass. Kyle winced, noticing the tight shoe string tie. He must never take them off . . .   
  
  
  
He quickly said a prayer so the guy wouldn't take off his shoes.   
  
  
  
Pressure began to mount on his skull, Malone slowly curling his hand. Kyle shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the end . . .   
  
  
  
It never came.  
  
  
  
With a growl, Audrena jammed the dagger down into the base of Malone's neck. She smiled wickedly, hearing the vertebra parting and crunching together as she dug for his spinal cord.   
  
  
  
Malone, unfortunately, wasn't about to be paralyzed willingly.   
  
  
  
Spinning, he caught her wrist and twisted it, snapping the cartilage and bones easily as he grabbed the blade, his mental powers healing the wounds. Ripping it from her now limp hand, his back stroke was across her eyes, slicing both orbs and blinding her instantly. As her hands flew up to cover her eyes, a booted foot went out, hooking around her ankles and taking her down, the blade coming down for one last blow, raking across her spine and easily cutting it in two.   
  
  
  
Malone watched her collapse with the utmost contempt and indifference, spitting on her as she fell.   
  
  
  
"Bitch."  
  
  
  
Kyle watched her fall with overwhelming shock and growing fury, struggling to get out of his captor's mental hold with even more strength then before, growling like an animal.  
  
  
  
"Audren!"  
  
  
  
Audrena herself simply felt herself fall, well, her upper body at least. Anything below her waist was completely numb. It wasn't fun to be paralyzed. Her head was exploding with pain, as her eyes were gone, and she could feel the liquid filling her eyes dripping down her face like opaque tears, blood intermingling with it and turning it to a thick pink fluid, running down her cheeks in a steady stream.   
  
  
  
Rivaling her pain was a sense of failure. She had failed to defend herself. She had failed to kill Malone. She had failed to free everyone in the corona.  
  
  
  
She had failed to help Kyle. . .   
  
  
  
She was unaware of what was going on above her, only aware of the sheer pain in her face and the numbness of her body.   
  
  
  
She also didn't notice that her body was being shrunk and taken away. . .  
  
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Kyle found that he was finally able to move, as Malone's powers were now focused on placing Audrena in the 1st of the last two crystals on the chandelier. He propped himself up on his elbows, looking around. The first thing he noticed was the triumphant smirk on Malone's face, and the face that Audrena's writhing body was fading away rather quickly. . .  
  
  
  
Malone slammed face first into the marble floor, Kyle's tackle easily sending him to the rock floor. Kyle rolled him over, sitting on top of him and letting his anger and rage take over, slugging him as hard as he possibly could.  
  
  
  
"WHERE IS SHE!?!?!" He screeched, still attempting to beat his desired information out of his enemy. Loathing flew through his veins, he couldn't help it. It just happened automatically. He paused after his knuckles had started bleeding, his blood smeared over the right side of Malone's face. He was panting heavily, after thrashing his captor's face for about 5 minutes on end. His broken knuckles were healing quickly, but he didn't really care about that.  
  
  
  
He was too busy being shocked at the fact that Malone was smiling at him.   
  
  
  
Kyle made a small noise, his right fist frozen in mid swing as he went pale, staring at Malone with a look of incredulous astonishment. Purple eyes now switching back to a sickening and somewhat alarming dirty red, Kyle flew off of him, landing next to the Essence Corona. Malone pulled himself up leisurely, his canine teeth starting to stick out from underneath his lip.  
  
  
  
Kyle's nose being tickled by a crystal, he took a moment to recover from being thrown, staring at the small semiprecious stone piece swinging just overhead. The rock itself was warm against his skin, and gave off a familiar aura. . .  
  
  
  
"Oh my god. . ."  
  
  
  
His fingers shaking, he took hold of the crystal and removed it from it's metal hook, hazel eyes wide with horror.   
  
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Nitric paused, rumbling up to what seemed to be a massive temple. Kyle's DNA signal was almost radiating from this place, along with Audrena's. It was strange though, there was no destruction or explosions or bad smells or yelling or panicked people. There was only . . . Silence.  
  
  
  
The stairs, although meant for humans, was easily large enough to fit him, as was the colossal roof. Deciding he might as well, he proceeded inside, leaving mammoth footprints in the stairs as he went, the ancient granite illuminated to a orange-red color by the sunrise.   
  
  
  
His armor tinted by the colors of the daybreak, the fury glanced down at the various pillars. Holograms of people stood on each of these 3 foot pillars, staring forlornly at Nitric as he passed. Nitric blinked at them all, sort of unnerved by them all. As he went further inside, he started to recognize people, the more famous people from times long past.   
  
  
  
One of his claws accidentally clipped one of the columns, causing it to bobble around a little. The noise disturbed the quiet, and Nitric swung around, hitting another one with his tail.   
  
  
  
"Eeep!"   
  
  
  
He froze with one foot clear in the air and his tail in a strange position with his front arms flailed out, not wanting to knock anything else over. The two pillars tottered back into place, but the holograms disappeared on both. A large screen appeared instead, just ahead of the pillars themselves. It was incredibly lifelike, and Nitric dropped a foot slowly as he recognized the person in the holographic movie he was facing, somewhat surprised and a little confused.  
  
  
  
It was Kyle, 20 long years back. . .  
  
~Sequence. . .~   
  
  
  
Scene: A rather run-down looking cabin out seemingly in the middle of what looked like the edge of a pine forest. Parked along side this cabin is a purple Genosaur, all but lost in the darkness of the blowing snow. It is Christmas, and the forest around it reflects that. It's right around midnight, with both crescent moons full and the stars like candles against a funeral shroud. All but one of the snow-laced windows are dark, rustling inside tells that someone is up at this late hour.   
  
  
  
Large hazel eyes awake at the sounds in his home, the 6 year old child groggy at this time of night. Brushing raven black hair from his eyes, Kyle sat up in his small cold room, trying to remember why he even woke up in the first place. He glanced at the clock. 12:07.  
  
  
  
"Good thing I woke up." He muttered, rubbing his eyes with his minute fists.   
  
  
  
"Stupid yucky dream. Why would anyone want to kiss a girl anyway?"   
  
  
  
He shook off the premonition that would come to be 2 decades in the future, he continued to ponder why he woke up.  
  
  
  
When it hit him that it was Christmas and that there was rustling in the house when everyone else was supposed to be asleep, a grin that only a delighted 6 year old can manage shot across his face in a rush as he shot out of his room, having to jump to get at the doorknob because of his height.   
  
  
  
The living room was his first stop, skidding in his socks on the hardwood floor, but there was no red coated fat man, to his extreme disappointment.  
  
  
  
"Ah darn." He spat, stamping a foot in his frustration. His voice wasn't all that different from his grown version, just higher pitched and infinitely younger and much more childish.  
  
  
  
A thick clinking noise turned his head and his smile dropped for a moment, only to return again upon seeing his father, Joshua Obscura.   
  
  
  
"Hey dad, did you see him?!" Kyle was just about bouncing, excited beyond rational thought. His father, whom he inherited just about all of his physical and emotional traits, looked down at his son with sadness and a little measure of contempt.   
  
  
  
"Yeah." He muttered, his voice deep and haggard, worn by a hard life and too much alcohol. "He stopped by, asked if he could borrow my bourbon. He was freezing his ass off and he needed a drink."   
  
  
  
Kyle blinked, staring up into his father's gaunt, unshaven, and sharply chiseled face with a confused expression. Santa didn't drink . . .   
  
  
  
His father stared back with a look of indifference, turning back to his packing and leaving Kyle standing there, still confused. The child, now curious, moved to the table, where his father's duffel bag lay, stuffed with various things, mostly clothing and food.   
  
  
  
Kyle's large hazel eyes were the only things to clear the table, along with his raven hair, which was already tied into a pony-tail, the style it would remain in for the rest of his life. It kicked up in the back, but the rest hung in his face or off to the side. He watched his father cram more things into his bag for a few minutes before his eyes slid to Josh, his irises gleaming like a pair of carved stainless steel circles.  
  
  
  
"Whatcha doing dad?" He asked innocently, putting his hands on the table and attempting to climb up. Josh watched him with his own hazel eyes with amusement and disinterest, his own eyes more of a storm cloud gray then a light hazel. Kyle continued to try and get up on the table, which was as tall as he was, and kept failing. His father rolled his eyes, a slight royal purple glow enveloping them.  
  
  
  
Kyle always enjoyed when his father hovered him around, and he giggled as he was put on the table. After all, this was no exception.   
  
  
  
"I'm packing kid." Joshua stated, the glow from his eyes completely gone.  
  
  
  
"Where ya going?" His son replied, fingering the duffel bag's zipper, all the while staring at his father.  
  
  
  
"Well, first to go see Theo Void." Kyle's face split into a grin.   
  
  
  
"Oh! You mean your bestist friend?" Josh considered this and chuckled. Kyle never failed to make him smile.  
  
  
  
"Yeah. . . You could say that."  
  
  
  
"Mom was saying something about him having been your best man. What does that mean?"  
  
  
  
"I'll tell you when your older."  
  
  
  
"Awww. . .she also said something about how she should have married him instead of you. What does that mean?" His father blinked, somewhat surprised.  
  
  
  
"It means. . .that she likes his company."   
  
  
  
"I like their daughter."  
  
  
  
"Which one? Mara?"  
  
  
  
"No!" Kyle stuck his tongue out at this. He was absolutely adorable when he did that. "Not here! She's mean. . . and she has too many guys in her room." That made his father laugh. You had to hand it to the kid, he was brutally honest.  
  
  
  
"The other one?"  
  
  
  
"Yeah!" He slid off the table, now with a thoughtful expression on his face. "What was her name? Aud. . . Audi? Audrey?"  
  
  
  
"Audrena?"  
  
  
  
"Her! Yeah. She's alright for a girl." Joshua regarded his son with a knowing but amused grin on his face as he hauled his bag onto his shoulder.  
  
  
  
"You know, some people call that puppy love." Kyle blinked, then remembered what the word 'love' meant and he stuck his tongue out.  
  
  
  
"No! Love is icky!" He shook his head, walking after his father as he moved towards the heavy wooden door.   
  
  
  
"Besides, she's acts more like a boy then a girl. She beats me when we play Zoid Pilots, that's a really hard game. . ."  
  
  
  
"I'm sure you'll beat her one of these days."  
  
  
  
"But she's younger then me!"  
  
  
  
"She's 6, Kyle, and your only older by about 6 months."  
  
  
  
"5, Dad. She's 5 and. . ." He clutched his head and shut his eye tightly, trying to remember. Joshua paused with his hand on the doorknob, waiting for his son to finish.   
  
  
  
"5 and 5/6 years old!" Kyle looked rather pleased with himself that he remembered his fractions.   
  
  
  
"I had almost said 10/12, but that was divisible still by 2! You can't leave a fraction in it's unfinished state. And you can't leave your quadratic formulas like that too!" He then looked a little uncomfortable. "I still have to get the hang of those quadratics. . ." He said guiltily.  
  
  
  
Josh smiled, proud of him. 6 and learning his fractions, square roots, and quadratic formulas. 9th and 10th grade math. Then again, that Audrena girl was 5 and she was attempting to prove one of her own scientific theories on the mathematical creation of the universe incorrect.  
  
  
  
The rate at which these kids were learning was just incredible. He hoped Theo had just been over-exaggerating, then again, he had seen that child's room. . .  
  
  
  
And her equation-covered walls. . .   
  
  
  
He tried not to think about that as he opened the door into the darkened Christmas night. Kyle paused.  
  
  
  
"Are you coming back after that? To come and open presents?" Josh viewed his son with a look of guilt.   
  
  
  
"No."   
  
  
  
This hit Kyle like a ton of bricks.  
  
  
  
"But. . . It's Christmas. You can't go. . ." Kyle's hazel eyes began to tear up.   
  
  
  
"What about me and mom? What are we gonna do?"   
  
  
  
Josh didn't answer, just attempted to shut the door behind him. Kyle wouldn't have it. He threw open the day and ran out in the snow after his father, grabbing onto his calf.   
  
  
  
"No! I won't let you!" His father's eyes narrowed, and with a purple flash, the 6 year old was thrown back into the snow. Pain exploded in his wrist, it had snapped under his weight. He didn't care about that right now.   
  
  
  
He was too busy staring after his father with an expression of disbelief, tears now streaming down his face and freezing in the snow.  
  
  
  
"Daddy!"  
  
  
  
Joshua didn't turn around, or even look back, just disappeared into the darkness. Kyle attempted to get up to follow him, but his little body tripped and he fell into the snow again. He raised his head slowly, the melting ice intermingling on his face with the tears  
  
  
  
"DADDY!!!!"  
  
  
  
His voice was answered by only the howling wind, just as cold and unfeeling as his father was in his choice to abandon his family. . .  
  
  
  
~End Sequence~  
  
  
  
Nitric simply stood there, frozen in shock. He ignored the other one as it shut down, turning and leaving the temple, somewhat shaken by what he had seen.  
  
  
  
It was no wonder why Kyle could sometimes be so desperate to hang on to the people he loved. One had walked out on him at a young age. Kyle had never told him about this. He had told him about when his mother was killed when he was about 16, but never about his father. . .  
  
  
  
"Well . . ." He said, completely unaware of the battle going about 200 feet below his feet.   
  
  
  
"This was a waste of time."   
  
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Audrena stared back at him, blood running from the corners of her ruined eyes. It was just as it had been in his dream. . .  
  
  
  
He sat up carefully, growling under his breath, now bent on getting home. Shoving Audrena's casing inside his pocket, he stood. Careful to avoid the chandelier, he paused, seeing that Malone wasn't anywhere to be seen. Trying out his mental powers, he found he could use them again. Smiling, his eyes shone electric blue, trying to pry into the defenses of the home.   
  
  
  
It was only after the pain in his heart started did he realize that he wasn't alone. It was a ripping, tearing sensation, as though the heart itself was being torn in two.  
  
  
  
His pain was telling his exactly what was happening.  
  
  
  
Suspended above him, hanging by his knees, Malone had his eyes shut tightly, his hands balled into fists and pulling apart very slowly, trying to cause as much pain to Kyle as he possibly could.   
  
  
  
Crying out, Kyle dropped to his knees, starting to bleed internally. Trying to get away from the pain, he concentrated.  
  
  
  
Concentrated every cell of mental power he had on boring a hole through the teleportation shield.  
  
  
  
It quickly became a race against time. Kyle collapsed on the ground, clutching his chest and groaning in pain as his muscles tore under the mental pressure. Though the hole opened enough. Just enough. . .  
  
  
  
Kyle let out one last cry of pain before disappearing. Malone gritted his teeth, but smirked nonetheless. He caused enough damage. . .  
  
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Kyle appeared inside the top floor hanger. He could feel himself dying, blood filling his chest cavity. His limbs aching and not wanting to move, he forced them to, pulling out Audrena's crystal. He stared at it for a moment, feeling his heart beat become sluggish. Holding it up, he let it drop, the glass shattering on the floor.   
  
  
  
He didn't see, rather heard the thick mist reform Audrena's body. He felt her hand grope for his, and that was the last touch he felt for a long while. . .  
  
  
  
(7 hours later. . .)  
  
  
  
The first thing Kyle was aware of was the hard table under his back. The second thing was just how numb his chest was, except for pain every time his heart pumped. But he took heart in these little feelings. It proved that he was alive. Groggily opening his eyes, he looked to his right, and he let a warm smile cross his face.   
  
  
  
Audrena looked so peaceful and timid when she was asleep. . .  
  
  
  
He tried to turn over, but excruciating pain met him instead. Nope, that won't do. Settling back, wincing as he went, he heard Audrena's table shift a little as she stirred. He looked back over, reaching for her hand, gripping it weakly. Her bandaged head shifted, and that slender hand squeezed his back.  
  
  
  
"Hi there." She muttered, attempting to smile.  
  
  
  
"Hello again, Audren. . .How do you feel?"  
  
  
  
"How would you feel if your eyes were gone?" He chuckled lightly, and hesitated, remembering something he had been meaning to do for a while.  
  
  
  
"Um. . . Audrena? Can I ask you something?"  
  
  
  
"Sure. Go right ahead, as I have nothing better to do then be involuntarily blind."  
  
  
  
Kyle chuckled. Well, she hadn't changed much. He took a breath, which hurt, and concentrated on that little black velvet box, hovering it over into his left hand. Hazel eyes glittering with hope and suspense, he opened it with a pop, looking at the thin ring. He had designed it himself. White gold shaped to be ivy encircled normal gold, four of the leaves curling upwards to hold in the two stones, a sapphire and a diamond, each a karat apiece, also right next to each other. He stared at it for a moment with a small grin on his face.   
  
  
  
"I've been considering this for a long time Audrena. . ." He said, taking her hand and turning it palm up, pressing the ring into it. She paused, rather shocked.   
  
  
  
"Are going to do what I think you're going to do?"  
  
  
  
"Audrena Void . . . Will you marry me . . .?"  
  
  
  
  
  
The longest and most torturous pause Audrena ever pulled was right then. Kyle watched her face carefully, trying to read it, but that was as difficult as reading her eyes . . .  
  
  
  
"Kyle . . . You don't know how long I've been waiting for you to say that."  
  
  
  
That took him completely off guard.  
  
  
  
"What?!" He said, the lack of air in his voice reflected just how surprised and joyful he was.   
  
  
  
"It's about time you asked me, I was wondering about this, and you never really had to ask my consent. It was given long before this . . ."   
  
  
  
Kyle had to stop himself from whooping, and instead stayed silent, slipping the circle of metal over her third finger. Somehow, he had a feeling things were going to be alright from now on, that nothing else would go wrong. . .  
  
  
  
Boy oh boy, let me tell you how wrong he was!  
  
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I liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!!! Heh, I gave you your own premonition, aren't I evil? Anyway, the next chapter is 'Truth Be Told'. I think you'll like it. See you there! 


	13. Truth Be Told

I have to apologize for the last chapter. It could have been better written. But I was rushed. You understand, right? Anyway, my colleague and co-writer has given me a solution to my 'should I write a lemon' question. There will be a separate chapter at the end of all this, written as a separate story, so that I don't have to move this to the R section. ^_^ It's so the decent people can read their story unhindered and the . . . more selective readers can go read that part if they so wish. Be wary, as you know by now, I can get pretty graphic. Careful, it will have much detail. Anyway, I am rather disappointed with myself because of the fact that the ending was rather insufficient. I think I'll go in and fix it... Later. Yes. Later. Anyway, I think you'll get a kick out of this one. 'Truth Be Told' is a mixture of things, and I swear, it WILL be better written, because I'm not on a time constraint put on by my parents or my co-author. *Glares and whaps him* By the way, he isn't helping me write this current story. This is a published version of a story we wrote quite a long time ago, but with some minor adjustments. You know, the details and the like. Mostly the purpose of the last chapter was to give you a peek into Kyle's past. Don't you feel sorry for him? You should. If you don't you are a sad and pathetic person! Now that I'm done ranting, here it is, Truth Be Told.  
  
P.S. I'm sorry for the time it took! I got stuck by the Uber-Writer's Block.   
  
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"No no, it's this color."   
  
"Oh come on! You're a liger, like me! Dark colors suit you best."   
  
The child nodded sagely, thumbing his chin knowingly. Newt kept trying to convince his mother to wear black armor, but that wasn't going over very well. The armor shop owners watched him and his mother carefully, the Godos pair wary of the younger of the two. Just like in a ritzy clothing shop in a rich neighborhood, they didn't trust children in their perfectly arranged shop. Wraith stared down at her son with a look of amused displeasure.   
  
"But it's a wedding! What's Audrena going to say if I come in there dressed for a funeral?!"  
  
"Good point." Newt said, shrugging in slight defeat. The older liger poked at a pair of white shoulder pieces with silver inlay.  
  
"Besides, when you're the maid of honor, don't you think you should abide by a simple tradition?"  
  
"Um, mom? You aren't a maid." He said, sitting down on his haunches. Wraith blinked, somewhat embarrassed.  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"Well, I'm here, aren't I? That kinda proves it." The full grown liger snickered.  
  
"How do you know your not adopted?"  
  
"Because dad already gave me the details on how I was conceived." He said shamelessly. Wraith sweatdropped heavily, donning a very sour look.  
  
"Nitric, you are dead." She shook her head and sighed, growling under her breath.   
  
"But what have you gotten out, ring bearer?"  
  
"Don't call me that. I'm not a hobbit."  
  
"You look like it."  
  
"Bleh."  
  
They weren't the only ones looking around for new armor. After the good news had been announced, the whole base went into an uproar, attempting to prepare for the upcoming event. Walls were being repainted, whole floors were being renovated, and quite a few zoids were paying special attention to Audrena's bedroom. After all, that's where all fun would start.  
  
Well, until Audrena got wise to what they were doing.  
  
With half-lidded eyes from lack of sleep, she opened the thick wooden doors, only to have her eyes fly open from the pungent smell of fresh paint. The black brown orbs traveled around the abruptly changed room, roving over the various modifications, then to the two zoids.  
  
"Oh my god…I've been vandalized by druids…'  
  
Her eyes instantly narrowed.  
  
"What the hell have you two done to my room!?" The two miniaturized Lightning Saix glanced up and gave her identical smiles.  
  
"We just thought we might spruce things up! After all, this is where all of the best stuff will start." The one on the left stated, glancing to the right as his twin began to speak.  
  
"Yeah! You know, the wedding night and all?"  
  
"I mean, come on, it's going to be the end of your physical purity! The room has to give a memorable feel."  
  
"As there will be other memorable feelings in here too. That's why we put in blood-resistant sheets, because they say it hurts and bleeds when you screw the first t-"  
  
CRACK!!!  
  
The mammoth wreaking hammer caught the twin on the left in the head, knocking him and his twin end over end.   
  
"YOU TWO ARE ZOIDS WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT REAL PAIN IS LIKE!" Audrena raged, her eyes now shading a incredibly dark crimson in her wrath. The two gulped backing away very slowly, as not to invoke her anger any further.   
  
"NEITHER OF YOU HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED WHAT TRUE SUFFERING WILL EVER BE LIKE! TAKE A STEP IN MY SHOES FOR ONCE, AND YOU'LL GET AN IDEA OF WHAT SORT OF MENTAL PREPARATION GOES INTO THIS!!!!"  
  
She hated when people pried into her up-coming love life, and the fact that she would be sleeping with Kyle within a year was a rather touchy subject for her. She had been thinking about that for a while now, ever since she had regained her eyesight, and it hadn't gotten much better all around.  
  
Either way, this had invoked her rage, which was not easily dealt with.  
  
"YOU KEPT DIGGING AND NOW YOU'RE BOTH GOING TO PAY FOR IT!!!"  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"   
  
Even though she enjoyed the fact that now she had moss for carpet, her bed had moved to right under a willow tree and had been upgraded to a king size, and the fact that half of her room was now a birch-filled wood with a rather nice lake toward the end of it, she could have easily done that herself. She wasn't exactly happy about that, especially the blood-proof sheets they had put in. That was the clincher, a slap in the face…and HOW they wee gonna pay….  
  
(Audrena's main room is on the second floor, and takes up about half of the floor itself. The secondary is in the hanger, and looks more like a prison cell then anything else. O.o? Don't ask.)   
  
The pair took off out the door, the growling Audrena in hot pursuit with hammer in hand. Every single zoid the twins passed immediately felt extreme pity, getting out of the way as the twins tried to escape, heading for the first floor. . .  
  
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So, by the time Kyle emerged from his own room, he almost tripped over the many scattered zoid parts as he stepped off the elevator to the hanger floor. His eyes traveled over the numerous frayed zoidian parts, sweat dropping as he went. Rolling his eyes at his fiancée's work, Kyle shook his head. What a temper. They must've done something horrible in her books to receive such punishment.  
  
Then again, it could be something as simple as taking the last slice of pizza. . .  
  
Eyes blazing blue, each part flew back together at Kyle's direction. Eventually, 2 Lightning Saix darted back together, each a brilliant yellow. Energy surged through their cores, restarting them again. Kyle watched nonchalantly as they jerked to life, getting up slowly.   
  
"Ah yes, the twins." Kyle said, a smile creeping up his face. "What did you this time, Yin and Yang?"  
  
The two cats, being about the size of panthers, glanced at each other with a pair of innocent expressions on their faces. Those two were known for causing trouble around the base. The last trick they pulled involved taunting a Dark Horn into a rampage and watching it wreak the floor for fun. That got them shrunk down to their current size. Each used to be normal size, and gloated in the fact that they were twins and both were larger then the Audreniliger in mass.   
  
Audrena, however, knew their biggest weakness. The only thing they could brag on. Their size. So they were now stuck as miniatures, and hated it.   
  
"Well. . ." The one on the right stared at his sibling warningly. It was impossible to tell them apart, so the base just referred to them as left and right, according to where they stood in relation to each other.  
  
"We decided to trim up Audrena's room!" Left confirmed enthusiastically.  
  
"Yeah, because it just wasn't as amorous as it should be." Right put emphasis on the word 'amorous', giving it a French sound.  
  
"I mean, come on," Left rolled his eyes, as though it was obvious. "She's going to be losing her virginity in there by your intercession. It's gotta be special!"  
  
Kyle immediately blushed a shade of red so dark it was almost black and sweat dropped heavily. The very thought of sex, although he knew it would happen eventually, made him blush. Well, only if something of his fantasies had been accidentally and unknowingly mentioned in public. He had been thinking about that for a while now, actually, as it would be part of the inevitable if everything went correctly. . .  
  
He shook his head violently to get Audrena's imagined moaning out of his ears, turning back to the twins, who were snickering by now.  
  
"Bet he just enjoyed the image he got." Left muttered under his breath.  
  
"Yup, he's probably a little horny right now." Right replied, sending them both into a titter.  
  
"Well, the scan says that too!"   
  
That was the last thing they said for a while. The pair's parts flew every which way, clattering on the hard steel floor as Kyle ripped them apart, a electric blue glow encompassing each piece as it blew out in every direction. The human looked down on the scattered parts and snorted.  
  
"Audren had the right idea." He muttered, walking towards the elevator again, now in a very sour mood. . .  
  
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"Are you sure of this Troden?" It wouldn't be the first time the fox had given the partial truth, even to his new master. . .  
  
"Of course master. I have pictures of the rings!"  
  
"What is this all of a sudden?" Malone muttered to himself. "LOTR?"  
  
He had gotten quite frustrated with the failure of his first attempt to get them to come easily. Malone had hoped to convince them to come along without any struggle or minimal resistance at the worst.   
  
But he still thought it was quite entertaining to hear Audrena whimper in excruciating pain and Kyle cry out in his suffering. . .  
  
But no matter, they were still alive, he had a second chance to tell them the truth.   
  
He knew that their life was nothing but a lie, a fabrication. He knew everything that could be known about those two. And their engagement only complicated matters. Now they wouldn't be separated from each other so easily anymore. . .  
  
He swung down from the rafter, smiling to himself. He'll just have to devise another strategy, another tactic. His first idea, of trying to get them to come quietly hadn't worked out so well. Malone hadn't planned on Kyle boring a hole through his teleportation shield, nor had he planned on them even staying alive after their rather grievous injuries either.  
  
He would have to set up his plan very carefully. . .  
  
Malone's eyes swung around the large estate he had come to call home, and every one of the priceless treasures inside. He had been alive for millennia, and each one of those had it's own piece of history he had claimed for his own. The purple orbs turned back to his chandelier, almost completely full. That had taken him even more time to stock up, accounting to where his life had been spent in the last few hundred years. . .  
  
Malone heaved a heavy-hearted sigh, looking out at the thousands of artifacts in his home, all of them he would have to give up in order to get himself to full power. It wasn't as though he was attempting to rule the world, as he had already done that. After all, all Audrena and Kyle only saw what he wanted them to see.  
  
He would have to make sacrifices in order to bring this pair in, but it would be well worth the effort if he could harness their power. . .  
  
Especially with the rest of the world's souls at his disposal. . .  
  
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Kyle promptly flopped into the nearest armchair, sweat dripping off of his chin. He had been undergoing rigorous cardiac training to repair his heart strength, and it was a little short of torture. Every pulse of his heart stung like a bee sting, and when it accelerated. . .  
  
He glanced around the study, huge to the extreme of the word. From glass floor to domed stained glass ceiling, shelves lined with thousands upon thousands of books, all but one wall out of the 6 in the circular room. That one wall was lined with more stained glass, cathedral-like and letting in the evening sunlight so that the whole room was lit with red and orange. Three thick leather chairs and a mahogany desk were the only furniture in the large room, other then the rolling ladder, but that was a must for such a large library.  
  
Kyle's pulse now down to normal, he was rather comfortable, nothing but a slight twinge in his chest. About to stand, the black double doors opened with a long drawn out squeak, he sat down again, sticking a couple of jelly beans in his mouth. Audrena giggled, closing the doors behind her.  
  
"Going for Dusty Baker are we?" Kyle chuckled lightly, shoving the half chewed candy to one side of his mouth, the plastic bagging that had been holding the beans crinkling his fingers.  
  
"Oh god! The goat won't affect us this year! But we're too superstitious to win a world series! Oh no, there goes Alphonsaco! Let's put him in as the starter!!"  
  
He shrugged a little, watching his fiancé recover from her laughing fit. "Well, it apparently works." He put the rest of the beans into his jeans pocket. "I've never seen you laugh that hard."  
  
Audrena cocked an eyebrow in return, taking her time in walking towards him. "And I've never you make such a fool of yourself before either."   
  
"Ouch." He winced with a signature smile. "I've been stung. Somebody get the antiseptic, I'm gonna die from a hemorrhaging ego."  
  
He promptly shut up when Audrena sat in his lap. The chair had no trouble supporting them both. Kyle gave her an eyebrow, his heart beat starting to speed up again.  
  
"So!" She said cheerily, stretching out and putting her feet up on the arm rest. "What do I get for Christmas?" Another blink. He was starting to like this sudden reversal in attitude.  
  
"Aren't we feeling frisky today!" Again, his chuckle was silenced by a rather sudden kiss. There hadn't been much affection other then loving glances between the two since the proposal, as they both had been pretty busy, so Kyle had just gotten used to the lack of physical contact. It wasn't like he wasn't enjoying himself…  
  
"I'll give you a lot more then that for Christmas." He murmured thickly, his lips directing themselves to the base of her neck. Now occupied with something other then his heart rate, which was now starting to skyrocket all over again, he smiled through it.   
  
'My god,' He thought thickly, his excitement starting to cloud his judgment. 'I'm onna get laid in the Study's lounge chair! What the hell is going on here?!'  
  
"My goodness Audrena, what's gotten into you?" He muttered from the crook of her neck. He didn't understand what was going on, but he was thoroughly enjoying it. Audrena leaned her head into his skull, feeling her own pulse rise, despite the fact she knew what all this was about. . .  
  
Just as his hands was attempting to remove the shoulders of her peasant tunic with a pair of shaking hands, she gave him a chaste kiss and pulled away, almost jogging towards the door.  
  
"Bye!" He was still recovering from the sudden arousal and breathlessness when the door closed with a squeak and a woody slam. He stared after her incredulously, shocked and a little disappointed.  
  
"What on Zi was that for?" He whispered to himself, standing slowly and moving towards the double doors. At least his chest didn't hurt anymore.  
  
As he closed the doors behind him, he caught a thread of conversation further down the hallway. Much further down the hallway, as at least one of the party was yelling at the other. He crept closer to listen, poking his head around a corner to see Audrena yelling at Barkeep. One was livid, the other impassive.  
  
"Why did you have to pull me out right THEN?! I was enjoying that!" Ah yes, the classic Audrena rage.  
  
"I can tell." Barkeep said dryly. "Your hicky stands out quite well against the rest of your neck."   
  
That didn't help matters at all. Kyle blushed a little; he had NEVER meant to give her a hicky.   
  
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THAT!?!?!?!?"   
  
"Just think about it this way, how it 'sounds'. -Audrena Void nearly lost her virginity in the Study's lounge chair.- Your only job was to test his heart strength by arousing him a little."  
  
'A little?!' Kyle thought to himself, suddenly feeling as though he was standing on no-man's land.  
  
"Bullshit." Now her tone was condescending. "You just didn't want to see us screwing in a library. You would prefer somewhere more provocative." Barkeep gulped mentally. Ok, so she had seen right through that. On to plan B.  
  
"I'm only looking out for your fiancé's health."  
  
"By installing cameras in my bedroom?"   
  
Audrena pulled a small spider from her canvas cloth pants, the lens gleaming like a diamond amongst the metal legs. Barkeep sweat dropped suddenly. Uh oh. . .  
  
"I've never seen those in my life." He rushed. Giving her famous glare, she stepped closer to the hologram, holding up the little camera so the evidence could clearly be seen.  
  
"Don't bullshit me Barkeep." She hissed. Kyle soundless slid down the wall nearby. He knew that tone, and it usually meant parts were about to fly. Now listening intently, he started to understand what was really going on here.   
  
"I know you better then half of the zoids running around in my base. I build you, I gave you your mind, your personality, and your habits. I guess it was my accident to turn you into a sex fiend!" Raising her hand, she paused in throwing the spider-like camera to the floor, which would easily shatter it. She could feel it quivering in her hand, terrified. Opening it again, she stroked the miniscule spider zoid in her hand, calming it as it crawled around, still keeping her eyes on the sex-obsessed zoid.  
  
"You placed this camera in my room, didn't you." She hissed, glaring at him. "You were waiting for the wedding night, so you could watch. By yourself perhaps, or maybe sell tickets as though it was A GOD DAMN SPORTING EVENT!!!"  
  
"You don't understand! Hundreds of zoids want to see this! They've been waiting, some of them, for 10 years for you to be tamed! They want to see the transition from the roaring and tormenting tiger to the gentle and submissive lamb!"  
  
There was silence in the hallway.  
  
Kyle frowned immediately on hearing those words. Oh no, oh hell no. That was NOT about to happen to her. Ok, so sometimes she could be a roaring exploding demon, but not all the time! Those qualities were one of the many reasons he loved her, how could they think she'd just pull a 180 after one night?!  
  
"SUBMISSIVE LAMB!!!?!?" Audrena roared, causing Barkeep to cringe. "LIKE HELL I'M GOING TO BE A SUBMISSIVE LAMB!"   
  
Kyle chuckled quietly. 'That's my Audren.'  
  
Barkeep heaved a sigh. "I didn't mean it that way…" He said, mentally considering how it wasn't his fault that he was programmed like this.  
  
"Of course not. And I'm a banana slug."  
  
"I didn't say that. I'm simply reporting on how the base feels about you. Hundreds of them want to see what happens after. . .err. . ."  
  
"The big night?"  
  
"Yeah! That's it."  
  
"Sickish zoids."  
  
"I don't think that's a word…"  
  
"You're trying to get off the subject." Audrena sighed, rolling her eyes and walking away. It was impossible to argue with that idiot…  
  
Kyle paused, then retreated immediately into the shadows of the hallway to avoid being seen. She walked right by him, completely oblivious, and stuck her head into the study, leaning further in to get a better look around. She blinked, raising an eyebrow as she surveyed the empty room.   
  
'Strange, I left him in here…'  
  
"Kyle?"   
  
Stepping out of the shadows quietly, he stuck his hands in his pockets and tried to look as innocent as possible as he tiptoed behind her and his arms encircled her waist in a fluid movement.  
  
"You called?"   
  
She stood straight up, jumping forwards and crying out from shock, raising her fists before she realized who it was. A slight red tinge came to the bridge of her nose and she lowered her hands with a jerk, leaning into him with a 'God-I-feel-really-stupid' grin on her face.  
  
"Sorry about that. I just wish you would stop sneaking up on me!" Kyle shrugged, the corners of his mouth curving upwards ever so slightly.  
  
"Just a force of habit."  
  
Audrena grinned slightly, crossing her arms and staring up at him.  
  
"You got any cameras?"  
  
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"Audrena! Come 'ere and take a look! This has much more value to it."  
  
"No way Kyle. This is so much older! By at LEAST a thousand years!"  
  
"Oh who cares! We're taking it all, so what's the-whoa! Look at THAT! That's going in my room."  
  
"You mean OUR room, right?"  
  
"Of course!"  
  
This was the general exchange happening inside of Malone's home, because that was exactly where they were. Completely unharmed. They didn't exactly care though. They were getting a kick simply out of loitering and looting in a hated enemy's home.   
  
And gawking at the thousands of priceless treasures Malone had pirated over the millennia was also involved in it.   
  
Despite this, Malone never emerged from his hiding spot, biting his lip to keep from ever making a sound as his favorite artifacts were stolen away. Memories of how he had attained such objects flashed before his eyes as they were teleported away, thankfully kept in the same atmospheric capsule.   
  
The couple, completely oblivious, went on with their looting.  
  
"My god…Kyle! Come here!"   
  
Cleopatra's original bust, suspended in an antigravity cube, hovered behind the male pilot for a moment before it disappeared with a light hearted pop. The two were almost skipping, for each of these artifacts were worth easily trillions of credits…  
  
Audrena's face looked rather hard and hateful as she stared up at an old tapestry, then down to an old black and white photo, framed and meticulously centered on a small bookcase. Kyle stopped, looking over her shoulder at the yellowed picture, his expression quickly darkening.  
  
"He makes me ashamed to be part German." Audrena blinked, picking up the old photograph and glancing over her shoulder into his troubled eyes.  
  
"You never told me you were part German. That's. . . that goes really far back to be able to say something like that. Back to Old Earth."  
  
"Well, my mother was big into our family history. Always bragging about it."  
  
Audrena grinned at him menacingly. Uh oh. . .  
  
"Wilkich?" Kyle grinned sheepishly at this, rubbing the back of his neck.  
  
"I said that I had German lineage, not that I knew how to speak the language." She punched him playfully, grinning up at him.   
  
"Fine. Ruin my fun."   
  
"But I'm not trying to ruin your fun!"   
  
Audrena simply snickered, turning away from him in mock anger.   
  
"Well you did. So for punishment?" She paused, trying to think of a good 'punishment' that actually sounded like real punishment.   
  
"I know, I'll put you in an 'Iron Maiden.' Make you stay in there in the dark for a few hours…" She said, drawing a finger along his jaw line. She could feel the stubble of an hour's growth.  
  
"You need a shave…" She muttered greedily. He didn't mind, simply caught the innuendo and busied him with a book he had taken from the nearest table. He found that it was an excellent way to get his mind off of the mental image he had just gotten. Flipping open the book, he pretended not to have heard his fiancée, taking a look inside the aged pages.   
  
Noticing his lack of response, she leaned to look over his arm, since his shoulder was too high to look over.  
  
"Err…Kyle?"  
  
He snapped the thick book shut suddenly, gracing the ancient leather cover with his fingertips as it gave a momentary blue flash, disappearing.  
  
"Time to set the charges and go home." He sighed and stretched suddenly, looking towards the various walls. Audrena nodded, her expression slightly troubled.  
  
"We are going to save the library for later use, right?"  
  
"Of course love! You doubt me?"  
  
"No. I doubt the explosives."  
  
(2 hours later)  
  
A fireworks display of color erupted from the old home, forcing it's way into the atmosphere in the form of a mushroom cloud, decorated with pieces of rock and flaming chemicals. Audrena leaned on Kyle's arm, staring at the blossom of destruction rather proudly.   
  
"Isn't it beautiful?"  
  
He chuckled, hazel eyes dancing in victory before gazing down at his fiancée lovingly. "No, you are."  
  
"Oh shut up!" She muttered, trying to wipe the emerging smile from her face as the two love-birds watched what they thought was the last remnants of their enemy blow sky high…  
  
Oh how wrong they were…  
  
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MOOOOO!!! ^^ End chapter! Start chapter …my god, I've lost count, but we'll get to see some doom and destruction and death! We all like death! Especially my kind of death, painful and emotional. ^^ See you next chapter in 'The Newlydead' 


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